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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), has vacated the ex-parte order granted freezing all bank accounts belonging to the Abia State government.
Justice Bello Kawu made the order vacating the initial order after listening to arguments by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abia State, Chief Uche Ihediwa, SAN who led a team of lawyers for the state government.
The Attorney General had filed two applications for the consideration of the Court.
The state legal team urged the Court to vacate the order because it was made pursuant to a defective affidavit.
The team further stated that the affidavit in support of the ex-parte application which was sworn to at the Federal High Court registry and was used to file a matter at the FCT High Court.
The Abia Attorney General explained that the issue of filing the application at the Federal High Court registry and filing the application at the FCT High Court makes the entire process look shady and funny.
According to the Attorney General; “In law, that is a fundamental defect and the Court agreed that such defect was of such a nature that it affected the entire proceedings. They didn’t also obtain the leave of the Court to use the affidavit.
“Of course, the life span of an ex parte order in law is 7 days. The Court also agreed with the Attorney General that it was in the interest of justice, public order and peace that the order be vacated.”
Swayed by the argument of the Attorney General, the Court vacated the order and adjourned to 28th April, 2023 to hear the arguments of the lawyers to the state legal team on the application challenging the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the matter.