$418m Paris Club refund: Court restrains consultants from transacting with promissory notes

A federal high court in Abuja has restrained Ned Nwoko from transacting with promissory notes issues with respect to the Paris Club refund.

Nwoko is one of the beneficiaries of the controversial payment of $418 million to consultants — a contentious issue between the three tiers of government.

While the senator representing Delta north claims he is owed $68,658,192.83, Ted Isighohi Edwards, another consultant, is claiming $159,000,000.

Other consultants include Riok Nig. Limited with $142,028,941.95, Prince Orji Orizu claiming $1,219,440.45, Olaitan Bello with $215,195.36 and Panic Alert Security Systems Limited with $47.821,920

The payment is said to be for professional services in the Paris Club refund to the state governments.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) had in November 2022, said it resolved to sustain legal action against the disbursement of the $418 million Paris Club refund and promissory notes issued to consultants by the federal government and the Debt  Management Office (DMO).

The forum said, “ it was resolute in exploring all legal channels available to it in ensuring that resources belonging to states are not unjustly or illegally paid to a few in the guise of consultancies”.

In May, the NGF said the federal government had granted its request to stop further deductions from states’ accounts to meet their Paris Club debt obligations.

Consequently, the federal government filed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/896/2023 seeking to stop the consultants from using the promissory notes.

In a ruling on Thursday, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, granted an ex parte order restraining the defendants from transacting with 61 promissory notes attached to the application.

“An order is hereby made restraining the defendants whether acting by themselves, their officers, staff, employees, shareholders, servants, assigns, privies, representatives, subsidiaries, agents howsoever called or described from discounting, selling, transferring, redeeming, enforcing, assigning, pledging, securitizing or entering into any transaction howsoever described with the promissory notes issued to the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th defendants, pending the hearing and determination of the plaintiffs/applicants’ motion on notice for interlocutory injunction,” the order reads.

Ekwo also ruled that the defendants be served with all processes in the case at least 24 hours after the court order.

He adjourned the matter to July 28 for hearing the motion on notice.

Asides from the consultants named earlier, others joined in the suit are FSDH Merchant Bank Limited and Gregory Nangor Lar.

The plaintiffs are the federal government, the attorney-general of the federation, the minister of finance, budget and national planning and the accountant-general of the federation.