Court freezes Oyo government’s bank accounts over N3.4bn debt

A high court of the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja, has issued an order freezing the accounts of the Oyo state government in 10 commercial banks.

The banks in which the state government’s accounts are blocked are Zenith Bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA), Wema Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Ecobank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, Jaiz Bank and Union Bank.

Achibong Ebong, the presiding judge, issued the order on Friday while ruling on a garnishee proceeding initiated by former local government officials in Oyo state.

The judge ordered the garnishees (the banks) to “file affidavits and attend this court on the next adjourned date to show cause why the garnishee orders hereby granted should not be made absolute”.

The judge also awarded N300,000 as a cost against the judgment debtors, Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo and the government. He ordered that a copy of the order be served on the debtors.

Thereafter, he adjourned the proceedings until January 5, 2024, for a hearing.

The local government officials, comprising chairmen and councillors, were sacked on May 29, 2019, before the end of their tenure, by the governor, when he took over.

However, the officials sued the state government and got a judgment in May 2021 of N4,874,889,425.60 against Makinde and other state agencies.

The other officials/agencies listed with Makinde as judgment debtors, are the attorney-general of Oyo, commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs,  accountant-general of Oyo state, speaker of the house of assembly, the house of assembly and the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

The garnishee proceeding was intended by the ex-council chiefs, led by Bashorun Ajuwon, to recover the balance of N3,424,889,425.60 which is outstanding from the actual judgment sum, from which Makinde paid only N1.5 billion in 2022.

The actual outstanding balance of the apex court judgment was N3,374,889,425.60, but the court of appeal in Abuja added N50 million as cost against Makinde and others in a judgment on December 8 dismissing their appeal.