FBN Holdings asks Court of Appeal to nullify order stopping AGM
FBN Holdings Plc, yesterday, asked a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, to nullify an ex-parte order granted by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of a Federal High Court, stopping the bank’s Annual General Meeting, AGM.
FBN Holdings in the appeal by its counsel, Mutalubi Adebayo, SAN, wants the appellate court to allow its appeal and an order directing that a different judge of a Federal High Court, Lagos be assigned to hear the substantive matter.
Adebayo, in the appeal, is contending that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the ex-parte order because the condition precedent under the Federal High Court Rules for the hearing of the suit was not met by the petitioners.
Recall that three aggrieved FBN Holdings Plc shareholders, Olojede Solomon, Adebayo Abayomi, and Ogundiran Adejare, had approached the lower court, seeking an order stopping the bank’s AGM scheduled for August 15, pending the hearing of their suit number FHC/L/CP/1575/23.
The trial judge, Justice Oweibo, in his ruling of August 9, 2023, directed FBN Holdings Plc not to hold its scheduled and statutory AGM until the issues before the court were resolved.
FBN Holdings Plc, dissatisfied with the ruling, filed six grounds of appeal, urging the appellate court to set aside the ex-parte order and assign the matter to a new judge for a hearing.
The appellant argued that the trial judge erred in law when he granted the prayer sought by the respondents in their motion ex parte dated August 8, 2023, while they were seeking the same relief in their substantive suit before the same court.
The bank is further contending that by granting the respondents prayer, the judge prejudged the substantive issues even before they were heard.
The respondents have not filed their reply to the appeal, and no date has been fixed for its hearing.
