Akingbola moves against enforcement of UK court’s judgment

Former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc (now Access Bank Plc), Mr. Erastus Akingbola, has asked a Lagos High Court to quash an order for the enforcement of a London court’s judgment which imposed N212.2bn liability on him.
The London court had on September 13, 2012, ordered Akingbola to pay the sum to Access Bank for his alleged sharp practices which allegedly contributed to the collapse of Intercontinental Bank (now subsumed by Access Bank).
Justice Adedayo Oyebanji of a Lagos High Court had ruled on an ex parte application filed by Access Bank, directing Akingbola to pay to Access Bank the sum of N212.2bn (£654m).
The order directing Akingbola to pay the money was made after the court ordered the registration of the UK court’s judgment to make it enforceable in Nigeria.

Akingbola, through his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had however filed an application before Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson of the Lagos High Court, praying the court to quash the registration of the foreign judgment.
Olanipekun argued in the application dated September 27, 2013, that the Lagos High Court which registered the foreign judgment lacked jurisdiction to do so.
He insisted that Section 251 of the Constitution vested the jurisdiction to adjudicate on such matters on the Federal High Court, which he argued was the equivalent of the Commercial Division of the London court where the original suit was instituted.
But Access Bank’s lawyer, Olaniwun Ajayi (SAN), argued that the proposition that only the Federal High Court had jurisdiction to register foreign judgments was faulty.
He argued that Registration and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, Cap 175 of 1958, and section 272 of the Constitution empowered the State high court to adjudicate on such matter.
Justice Candide-Johnson fixed February 17 for ruling.

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