The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside a garnishee order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay a ₦100.178 million judgment debt owed by the Imo State Government, holding that anticipated allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee do not constitute an existing and attachable debt in the hands of the apex bank.
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In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang, the appellate court held that the Federal High Court acted on speculation rather than credible and verifiable evidence when it made the garnishee order absolute against the CBN.
The court found that the CBN neither maintained an account for the Imo State Government nor owed the state any existing debt capable of sustaining the garnishee proceedings instituted by the judgment creditor, Andrew Okoroji.
The appeal arose from a May 19, 2016 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which made a garnishee order absolute against the CBN in an attempt to enforce a ₦100,178,210 judgment earlier obtained by Okoroji against the Imo State Government.
The trial court had held that funds expected to accrue to the state from FAAC and allegedly domiciled with the CBN were capable of being attached in satisfaction of the judgment debt.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Abang subjected the evidence presented by the judgment creditor to judicial scrutiny and found it fundamentally deficient.
The appellate court observed that Okoroji, who personally deposed to the counter-affidavit used to support the garnishee proceedings, did not claim to be a member of FAAC and failed to disclose the source of the information contained in his affidavit.
“All depositions in his counter-affidavit are documentary hearsay, which are not credible and reliable. I so hold,” Justice Abang stated.
The court held that the trial judge acted with undue haste by making the garnishee order absolute without first resolving the substantial factual disputes arising from the affidavits filed by the parties.
Justice Abang stressed that garnishee proceedings must be founded on credible, cogent and verifiable evidence establishing the existence of a debt owed by the garnishee to the judgment debtor.
According to the court, assumptions, conjecture and anticipated payments cannot take the place of proof of an existing legal debt.
“The first respondent did not prove by verifiable evidence that the CBN was indebted to the Imo State Government to warrant the order nisi being made in the first place to attach a non-existent debt in the hands of the CBN,” the court held.
Justice Abang said the Federal High Court proceeded on speculation by treating expected FAAC allocations as attachable funds despite the absence of legal evidence showing that the CBN was indebted to the Imo State Government at the time the order was made.
The appellate court further held that the trial court’s reasoning was influenced by sentiment and emotion against the apex bank rather than the evidence placed before it.
“There was no basis in fact and in law for the order to be made absolute,” Justice Abang stated.
The court consequently allowed the CBN’s appeal, set aside the garnishee order absolute and awarded ₦1 million in costs against the judgment creditor.
Justice Abang held that the order was founded on the imagination of the trial court, adding that a court could not validly make an order in vain.
The Court of Appeal also rejected the contention that anticipated FAAC allocations could be treated as debts for the purpose of garnishee proceedings.
It reaffirmed the settled legal position that only an existing, ascertainable and legally enforceable debt owed by a garnishee to a judgment debtor may be attached in satisfaction of a judgment.
The decision strengthens the evidential requirements applicable to garnishee proceedings and clarifies that financial institutions cannot be compelled to satisfy judgment debts merely on the basis of anticipated inflows, assumptions or unsupported claims of indebtedness.
In another judgment delivered the same day, the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal of lawyer Igwe Onyesom Ugochukwu in a fundamental rights enforcement action against KYC Interproject Limited.
Ugochukwu had alleged that he was unlawfully arrested by persons acting on behalf of the company while he was at his building site in Lugbe, Abuja.
The appellate court held that KYC Interproject Limited and persons acting for it, not being law enforcement officers or agencies, had no legal authority to arrest or detain the lawyer.
The court found that the conduct complained of violated Ugochukwu’s constitutional rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing and freedom of movement.
It consequently awarded him ₦15 million in damages for the infringement of his fundamental rights.
The appeal also addressed the treatment of affidavit evidence and electronic exhibits in fundamental rights proceedings.
The trial court had dismissed Ugochukwu’s application partly because he allegedly failed to play a video compact disc attached as an exhibit to his supporting affidavit.
The Court of Appeal’s decision clarified the proper judicial approach to affidavit evidence and electronically stored material tendered in support of fundamental rights applications, while reversing the dismissal of Ugochukwu’s case and granting reliefs for the unlawful arrest and detention.
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