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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Federal High Court, Ibadan Division, Oyo State, has commenced hearing in a suit by the First Bank of Nigeria against a local firm, Read Agricultural Manufacturing Industry Limited (in receivership), and its directors, Mr Remi Alabi and Mrs Ngozi Nwauma-Alabi over N42 million alleged debt.
The presiding judge, Justice Uche Agomoh, had on February 8, 2022, adjourned the case, marked FHC/IB/CS/104/2018, to February 24, for definite hearing, following submissions made by the lead counsel to the claimant – the First Bank Nigeria, Mr Justice Akose, that he could not obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of an earlier judgment of an Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, the state capital.
According to him, he would need to tender the judgment delivered by the lower court before the higher court as one of the exhibits. He prayed the court to grant a short adjournment to enable him to get the judgment. He explained that he has paid for the judgment already and had been promised it would soon be ready.
At the resumed proceedings, Akose presented the CTC of the earlier judgment by the lower court and it was admitted as an exhibit. He relied on Evidence Act 2011 to argue on the relevance of the documents he presented to the case. He also presented his witness, Babatunde Aforiwo, the Business Manager, Apata branch, Ibadan of the bank.
But the lead counsel to the defendants, Chief Richard Ogunwole (SAN), is expected to cross-examine Aforiwo, present his own witness and documents at the next adjourned dates, which are March 28 and 29.
Ogunwole, however, told journalists after the proceedings: ‘They have opened their case. They have only one witness. They have also adopted their written statement on oath. They are tendering mortgage documents from the land and other letters. They also wanted to tender the written statement on oath used in the Federal High Court and other matters. We opposed it and the court overruled them.
‘But due to the pressure on the court to hear other matters – there are so many cases before the judge, we agreed to adjourn. I am very much happy with the stage the matter is now. To us, nothing tangible has happened. Most of the documents they tendered, we are going to use against them. When they finish with their case, we will cross-examine the witness and call our witness. We have only one witness and so many documents.’
Counsel to the First Bank, Akose, also noted: ‘Basically, the trial has commenced. The plaintiff opened his case today and tendered documents concerning his case. When we finish our own, the defendant would have the opportunity to cross-examine our witness. The defendant can now open his case. Then, we can now have the opportunity to cross-examine their witness.
‘I have brought and tendered the document we want to rely on. The Chief Judge of Oyo State sorted that issue out for us. He recalled the file and we were able to access the file.’
