Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
The Federal High Court’s ex-parte orders, which were issued in suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/1113/2022 – Vigeo Power Limited v. Fidelity Bank PLC & 7 Ors. on July 8, 2022, were said to have expired after 14 days, according to an alleged opinion of the Attorney-General of the Federation, or AGF. BEDC Electricity Plc has called this unfortunate.
“The AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, believes that the fired Managing Director of the BEDC Electricity Plc, BEDC, is going outside her legal jurisdiction or authority,” according to a story published online on August 23, 2022.
Kunle Adegoke, SAN, the legal representative for BEDC, responded to the situation by saying: “We refuse to believe that the Attorney General would publicly remark on a case that is under investigation and sit in judgment over an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. We would characterize the view as unfortunate, in bad faith, and an invitation to anarchy in the improbable case that it did, in fact, come from his office as claimed.
“A court order is not null and void until the court so rules. If the opposite were true, as the AGF appears to have stated, every party to a lawsuit would declare every order it finds unfavorable to have expired, and society would be a boiling cauldron of self-help.
According to the law, a court order is valid until the court declares it to be null and void. We cite the Court of Appeal’s ruling in Deux Projects Limited v. Access Bank PLC (CA/LAG/1342/2019), which was issued on December 14, 2020. The court corrected the impression and held that an ex-parte order would not expire after 14 days until a court so decrees.
“We think the AGF’s view is a ruse to throw things off track and pressure the honorable office of the Inspector General of Police to carry out an illegal operation by deploying the police or another security agency to forcibly take over BEDC Electricity Plc without a court order allowing such an act.
“The opinion imputed to the AGF continues the current troubling pattern of state power abuse by the various government agencies in relation to this issue.
The Federal High Court order in question was granted in the case known as Vigeo Power Limited v. Fidelity Bank, which is still pending, he continued. “We implore all lovers of the rule of law to implore all authorities to respect the sanctity of legal proceedings,” he said.
