Court Of Appeal Dismisses Sha’aban’s Stay Of Execution Application In Kaduna

The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has dismissed an application for stay of execution filed by the counsel to Alhaji Mahmood Sani Sha’aban.

The application sought to suspend the judgment of a Kaduna State High Court which ordered the auctioning of some assets belonging to Sha’aban to settle the debt he owed Alhaji Umar Faruk Abdullahi, due to breach of terms.

Earlier, the appellant’s counsel, Halima Fumilola Olodo, had filed the application seeking a stay of execution and an extension of time on the High Court’s judgment.

She prayed the court to allow her client the opportunity to repay the money himself, instead of granting the creditor permission to proceed with the auction of the assets.

On his part, counsel for the respondent, Mista Abdullahi Yahya, SAN, drew the court’s attention to the fact that the appellants had breached procedural rules from the outset of the suit.

He cited their failure to comply with some rules on filing the appeal, and their disregard for the order of the lower court regarding the time within which the debt was to be repaid.

Mista Abdullahi Yahya, SAN, also urged the court to order the appellants to pay his client the sum of ₦500,000 as costs for wasting the court’s time and failing to comply with the earlier order of the lower court.

After hearing both sides, Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi of the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal filed by the appellant’s counsel for non-compliance with the rules for filing an appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal in Kaduna.

She further awarded costs of ₦200,000 against the appellants, as prayed by counsel for the respondent.

Giving further details on the proceedings, counsel for the respondent,  Abdullahi Yahya, SAN, said that with the dismissal of the appeal, it had paved the way for them to proceed with enforcing the judgment of the lower court who ordered the auction of some assets belonging to Hon. Mahmood Sani Sha’aban to settle the debt owed to Alhaji Umar Faruk Abdullahi.

On her part, the appellant’s counsel, Halima Fumilola Olodo, confirmed that the appeal was dismissed due to non-compliance with some of the rules for filing an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Recall that the case was hinged on a loan agreement which was signed in 2018 by Hon. Sani Mahmud Sha’aban (Dan Buran Zazzau), and Alhaji Umar Faruk Abdullahi to secure his release from a problem involving arrest and detention in prison custody in Dubai (UAE) in the same year.

A total amount of one million USD and N11.2 million was given to Shaaban by the Judgment Creditor on a loan given to him (without interest) under strict Islamic law, payable in 6 months, which was drafted and witnessed by Sha’aban’s lawyers and signed by his son and later on his return from prison he counter signed in acceptance.

Sha’aban had already paid $290,762 out of the one-million-dollar loan and he later decline to pay the remaining balance. Part of the conditions attached was the redemption of the loan within six month and with the same currency as he was paid.