A Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko, yesterday, ordered a stay of proceedings in the legal action instituted by three aggrieved FBN Holdings Plc shareholders over the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held on August 15, 2023.
It would be recalled that the judge had earlier directed lawyers in the case to address him on whether the court could proceed with the case given the appeal pending before the Court of Appeal and another application seeking a stay of proceedings.
In his ruling on the written addresses initiated by parties, Justice Aluko declared that in the instant case, what is pending before the Appellate Court was not just an application to stay proceedings, but that the substantive relief of the appeal is also asking for a stay of proceedings.
The judge held that “The ruling of the court is now a subject before the Court of Appeal. It is settled by a long line of decisions of the Supreme Court that the lower court should avoid judicial engagement in proceedings pending before it.
"It is my view that it is better to avoid any judicial engagement in proceedings before this court that is capable of defying the judicial authority of the Court of Appeal, whose decision may impact the proceeding before this court.
“Going by the tone of events and the level of controversy the matter has generated, it is better to give the senior brothers at the Court of Appeal an opportunity to look into the case.
“The pending ruling of the court is kept in abeyance in sacred obedience to the judicial authorities of the Court of Appeal. I hereby order maintenance of status quo".
Before the ruling of Justice Aluko, the aggrieved shareholdings namely Olojede Adewole Solomon, Adebayo Oluwafemi Abayomi, and Ogundiran Emmanuel Adejare, had prayed to the Federal High Court for an order stopping the bank's AGM pending the hearing of their suit designated FHC/L/CP/1575/23.
The old generation bank had in its Notice of Appeal prayed the court to nullify an ex-parte order granted by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, which stopped the bank's AGM.
The FBN Holdings Plc in a Notice of Appeal filed on its behalf by its team of lawyers led by Mutalubi Adebayo (SAN), is also asking the Court of Appeal for an order allowing its appeal and an order directing that a different Judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos be assigned to hear the substantive matter.
The SAN specifically insisted that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the ex-parte order because the condition precedent under the Federal High Court Rules for the hearing of the suit was not met by the petitioners.
The aggrieved shareholders had approached the court presided over by Justice Nicholas Oweibo seeking an order stopping the bank's AGM pending the hearing of their suit.
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