The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has vacated the exparte order it granted that froze all bank accounts of the Abia State government.
Justice Bello Kawu gave the order vacating the initial order after listening to arguments by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abia State, Chief Uche Ihediwa, SAN who led a team of lawyers for the state government.
The court had granted an exparte order freezing all bank accounts belonging to the state government following an application made by one Uche Eni.
The Abia legal team had filed two applications before the Court.
They urged the Court to vacate the order because it was made pursuant to a defective affidavit.
The state legal team further stated that the affidavit in support of the ex parte application which was sworn to at the registry of the Federal High Court and was used to file a matter at the FCT High Court.
Ihediwa SAN explained that the issue of filing the application at the registry of the Federal High Court and filing the application at the FCT High Court makes the entire process look shady and funny.
He said; “In law, that is a fundamental defect and the Court agreed that such defect was of such a nature that it affected the entire proceedings. They didn’t also obtain the leave of the Court to use the affidavit.
“Of course, the life span of an ex parte order in law is 7 days.
The Court also agreed with the Attorney General that it was in the interest of justice, public order and peace that the order be vacated.”
Following the arguments of the Attorney General, the Court vacated the order and adjourned to 28th April, 2023 to hear the arguments of the lawyers to the state government on the application challenging the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the matter.
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