Abuja court vacates order freezing Abia accounts, says process defective

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has vacated the ex parte order it granted to freeze all accounts of the Abia State Government.

Justice Bello Kawu vacated the initial order on Thursday after listening to arguments by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abia State, Uche Ihediwa, SAN, who led a team of lawyers for the Abia State Government.

The Abia legal team had filed two applications before the court: First was an application urging the court to vacate the order because it was made pursuant to a defective affidavit.

The affidavit in support of the ex parte application was purportedly sworn to at the Federal High Court Registry and used to file a matter at the FCT High Court.

This particular issue makes the entire process look shady and funny. They didn’t also obtain the leave of the Court to use the affidavit.

In law, that is a fundamental defect and the court agreed that such defect affected the entire proceedings.

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.

Justice Kawu subsequently vacated the order and adjourned till 28th April, 2023 to hear the arguments of the Attorney General of Abia State on his second application which is challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.