N69.4bn debt: Court sets aside order seizing Jimoh Ibrahim’s assets

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday set aside its directing the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over assets belonging to a businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, over alleged N69.4 billion debt.

Justice Okon Abang set aside the earlier order given on January 4th, on the grounds that the applicant (AMCON) had concealed facts relating to the case to obtain an interim order to take over Jimoh Ibrahim’s property.

The court had, in a ruling on an ex-parte application on January 4, granted leave to AMCON to seize some assets belonging to Jimoh Ibrahim in order to recover the said N69. 4 billion debt.

But, the defendants which include Jimoh Ibrahim, his firms, NICON Investment Ltd and Global Fleet Oil and Gas Ltd, had in another application prayed the court to set aside the order on grounds of “non-disclosure and misrepresentation of material facts.”

In his ruling on the application by Jomoh Ibrahim and other defendants, Justice Abang agreed with theme that AMCON concealed facts which robbed his court of any jurisdiction to hear the matter.

According to the judge, the ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos delivered in 2016 which restrained AMCON from taking over the defendant’s property pending final determination of the matter is still subsisting and has neither been appealed against or vacated, hence his order of January 4, 2021 is a nullity.

Abang further held that all the consequential orders he made on January 4 regarding AMCON’s exparte application for the seizure of Jimoh Ibrahim’s assets over the alleged N69.4 billion debt are vacated.

He also held that parties in the suit will at the next adjourned date address him on whether he has jurisdiction or not to go ahead with the case.