Represented by Mutalubi Adebayo, SAN, the bank is seeking the appellate court's permission to proceed with its appeal and is also requesting that a different judge from the Federal High Court in Lagos be assigned to handle the main case.
Adebayo, in the appeal, argues that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to grant the ex-parte order because the prerequisites outlined in the Federal High Court Rules for the hearing of the case were not met by the petitioners.
Previously, three dissatisfied FBN Holdings Plc shareholders, namely Olojede Solomon, Adebayo Abayomi, and Ogundiran Adejare, had approached the lower court, seeking an order to postpone the bank's AGM, which was originally scheduled for August 15. They made this request pending the resolution of their suit numbered FHC/L/CP/1575/23.
In his ruling on August 9, 2023, Justice Oweibo directed FBN Holdings Plc not to proceed with its AGM until the matters before the court were resolved. Dissatisfied with the ruling, FBN Holdings Plc filed an appeal on six grounds, urging the appellate court to set aside the ex-parte order and appoint a new judge to hear the case.
The appellant argues that the trial judge made a legal error when granting the respondents' request in their motion ex-parte, dated August 8, 2023, while the same relief was being sought in their substantive lawsuit before the same court. Additionally, the bank contends that by granting the respondents' request, the judge prematurely decided on the substantive issues before they were presented.
As of now, the respondents have not submitted their response to the appeal, and a hearing date has not been scheduled.
