Court Freezes Oyo Government Accounts Over N3.3bn Debt

An FCT high court has ordered the Oyo government to pay N3.3 billion to former local government chairpersons and councilors who were sacked in 2019.

The presiding judge, A.O. Ebong, issued the garnishee order nisi in response to a motion ex-parte filed by the ex-chairpersons and councilors. The case was marked FCT/HC/BW/M/238/2023, filed by the ex-chairpersons and councilors led by Bashorun Majeed, Bosun Ajuwon, and Idris Okusesi.

Banks affected by the order.

The affected banks in this order are First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank, and Zenith Bank.

The garnishee order compels financial institutions to disclose funds belonging to the judgment debtor.

The order requires the institutions to provide specifics of such funds to the court. Additionally, the order operates to freeze the judgment debtor’s account if they maintain an account with the bank.

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The banks received an order from the judge to demonstrate why they should not make the order absolute. The funds have a specific purpose of settling the outstanding balance of N3,374,889,425.60 from the judgment debt owed to the former LGA chairpersons and councilors who were sacked by Seyi Makinde, the Oyo governor, on May 29, 2019, before the end of their tenure.

Illegal dissolution of local government councils

On May 7, 2021, the supreme court ruled that the dissolution of local government councils in Oyo state was illegal. The court also ordered Makinde to pay a cost of N20 million. Also, ex-chairpersons and councilors will receive their salaries and allowances from May 29, 2019, to May 11, 2021, when their tenure should have ended.

The garnishee proceeding was initiated for the chairpersons and councilors by their lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi, in the execution of a judgment they obtained against the governor and six others from the supreme court. The governor’s action had been widely criticized, particularly by the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).