THE Federal High Court in Lagos has suspended the hearing of a N5.5 billion debt case between Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, its sister companies and Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
The companies are praying the court to hold that they were not indebted to Ecobank.
Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned pending the determination of an interlocutory appeal filed by Ecobank.
The bank appealed against the judge’s refusal to recuse himself from the case. Ecobank had accused the judge of bias.
When the case came up for continuation of defence, the bank’s lawyer, Mr. Divine Agbua, told the judge that the Court of Appeal directed him to suspend further hearing.
He said: “The appeal filed by the defendant came up for hearing at the Court of Appeal. Judgment was reserved. They made a directive to await their decision.
“May I apply that this case be adjourned sine dine (indefinitely). We shall notify your lordship upon delivery of judgment by the Court of Appeal.”
Plaintiffs’ counsel Olabode Olanipekun confirmed that the Court of Appeal directed that the case be halted “out of respect for the hierarchy of courts”.
“My application would be for the court to adjourn, not sine dine, but till a further date for us to report the outcome of the appeal,” he said.
Ruling, Justice Idris said he would comply with the appellate court’s directive.
He held: “I have listened to learned counsel. I have read the orders of the Court of Appeal. It is clear that the Court of Appeal had directed this court to await its judgment on this matter out of respect for the hierarchy of courts.
“As a trial court, subordinate to the Court of Appeal, this court shall abide by the orders made by the Learned Law Lords of the Court of Appeal. This court shall, therefore, await the judgment of the Court of Appeal in this matter before further proceedings are continued herein.
“In the circumstances, further proceedings in this matter are hereby adjourned pending the determination of the appeal. Either party shall be at liberty to apply for a hearing at the conclusion or the delivery of judgment by the Learned Law Lords of the Court of Appeal. This shall be the decision of the court,” the judge ruled.
Ecobank had asked Justice Idris to recuse himself because it no longer had confidence in the judge to do justice in the case.
But, the judge had refused the application, saying he would stick to his judicial oath in determining the case.
He had ruled: “It is always tempting for a judge against whom criticisms are made to say he would prefer not to hear further proceedings in which the critic is involved.
“But it is important for a judge to resist the temptation to recuse himself simply because it’ll be comfortable to do so.
“The danger is that we’ll soon reach a position in which litigants were able to select judges to hear their cases simply by criticising all the judges that they do not want to hear their cases, whether the criticism is justified or not.
“These issues are either for the appellate court or appealable issues and the defendant can exercise the right of appeal if it so desires. The application for the judge to recuse himself from this matter is most frivolous and it is refused,” he said.
Ecobank subsequently appealed against the ruling by the judge.
While Ecobank is claiming that Honeywell Group was indebted to it to the tune of N5.5 billion, out of which N3.5 billion had been paid, the plaintiffs’ are contending that they had repaid the debt in full.
Honeywell Group chairman Dr. Oba Otudeko told the court that his companies owed Ecobank individually, but that the debt had been repaid.
In his witness statement on oath, the business mogul said the firms jointly negotiated with the bank on the repayment terms.
Otudeko said: “The plaintiffs were individual customers of the defendant and had personal outstanding exposures to the defendant.
“In view of the fact that Honeywell Group Limited is the parent company of the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs under the auspices of the Honeywell Group, led by me, opened up negotiations to settle the then outstanding indebtedness of the plaintiffs to the defendant.”
Otudeko maintained that his companies had paid N3.5 billion as of December 12, 2013 as the full and final payment for the N5.5 billion debt as agreed by the parties at a July 22, 2013 meeting.
But the bank said the group did not repay the debt in line with an agreement that the payment must be made before Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) examiners left the bank.
The bank, therefore, refused to remove Honeywell Group’s name from its debtors’ list. It also threatened to publish Honeywell’s name as a chronic debtor.
