FCT Court Vacates Order Freezing Abia Govt Accounts

High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has vacated the ex-parte order it granted, freezing all accounts of the Abia State government.

Justice Bello Kawu vacated the order after listening to arguments by the state attorney-general and commissioner for justice , Uche Ihediwa (SAN) who led a team of lawyers for the state government.

The state legal team had filed two applications before the court: 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.  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 seven 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.

The court then vacated the order and adjourned to  April 28, 2023 to hear the arguments of the attorney-general of Abia State on his second application which challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter in the first place.