The apex court said it erred and the decision to reverse itself was due to an error in the registry.

“It will be unjust to visit the sin of the court’s Registry on an innocent, vigilant, proactive and diligent litigant,” the apex court ruled.

The Supreme Court on February 27, 2019, had dismissed GTBank’s appeal seeking to overturn the judgment of the Ibadan high court that favoured Innoson motors.

Dissatisfied with the supreme court’s judgment, GTBank filed an application seeking the re-listing of the appeal on the grounds that it was wrongly dismissed.

Delivering judgment, a five-member panel of justices led by Olukayode Ariwoola, held unanimously that the supreme court made a mistake when it erroneously dismissed GTB’s appeal marked: SC/694/2014.

In the lead judgment written by Tijani Abubakar but read Abdu Aboki, the court disclosed that it was misled by its registry, which failed to promptly bring to the notice of the panel that sat on the case on February 27, 2019, that GTB had already filed its appellant’s brief of argument.

“I am convinced that at the material time that the appellant’s appeal was inadvertently dismissed by this court, there was in place, a valid and subsisting brief of argument filed by the applicant,” the court held.

What you should know

The legal battle between GTBank and Innoson started a little over a decade ago.

A federal high court in Ibadan, Oyo state, had ordered GTB by way of Garnishee order absolute — to pay N2.4 billion to Innoson with a 22% interest, per annum, on the judgment sum until the final liquidation.

A garnishee order is one of the options open to a judgment creditor to enforce a judgment made in its favour.

In 2013, a high court in suit no: FHC/Cs/139/2012 ordered GTBank to pay N4.7 billion to Innoson as restitution for arbitrary charges. The financial institution, however, challenged the ruling of the high court at the Court of Appeal, Enugu division.

In December 2014, the Appellate court asked GTBank to deposit N6 billion in an interest-yielding account to be supervised by the court’s Registrar. The money was to be domiciled in an account that will accrue interests, pending determination of the suit.

Not satisfied with that decision, GTBank filed a motion for the stay of execution of the ruling. However, The apex court struck out the application on the grounds that the Deposit Money Bank (DMB) had not obeyed the ruling of the appellate court that directed it to deposit

The post Innoson Vs GTBank: Supreme Court Makes U-turn On Judgement appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists, Chukwuma said GTBank is owing to him N32 billion, adding that the money would soon surpass the financial institution’s capacity to pay.

According to the business magnate, by the time the money owed surpassed GTBank’s financial capability, he would have no choice but to takeover from the present management.

Unmaskng.com understands that GTBank and Innoson have been spending time together in court due to a prolonged legal dispute.

Innoson had secured judgment debt against the bank in suit FHC/L/Cs/603/2006 and FHC/Cs/139/2012 respectively, which rose to over N32 billion due to accumulated interest.

In July 2021, Innoson had asked a federal high court in Lagos to set aside an order permitting GTB to restructure to a holding company.

But the bank completed the restructuring — GTB is now known as Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO Plc).

The billionaire businessman, at the media briefing, recounted that his relationship with the bank had been extremely cordial during the tenure of Olutayo Aderinokun, late MD of GTBank.

His words: “I was GTBank’s best customer in the south-east when Tayo, the former MD, was alive. Because of this, they opened a branch in Nnewi. After Tayo, the new MD took over. I don’t even know him. I saw him for the first time last year.

“They started fighting about the tribe. I am not certain about this but I think the reason he (GTB) is fighting is because of tribe. I don’t know exactly what his problem is.

“But finally, I have proved him wrong in everything. I have defeated him in all the courts we went to. The only thing left is for him to pay me what he owes me.

“He was going to my account and taking money anyhow. I discovered it, took him to court and won. Up till now, he hasn’t paid and we have gone up to the supreme court. Maybe he hasn’t paid because he wants Nigeria to change their law because of him.”

The CEO explained that he would no longer “disturb” the bank to pay the debt.

According to him, he would take over the bank when it gets to the point that the bank cannot pay the principal amount plus 22 percent accrued interest.

“The beauty of the whole thing is that the money is attracting the interest of 22 percent. So, I am waiting for the interest to be above their capacity so I can take over the bank,” Chukuma said.

“That’s what I am waiting for. I am not disturbing them anymore. I am assuring all the customers of GTB that if I take over, I would still run it well. They shouldn’t fear. I haven’t done any business that fails.

“I will run it better than them. If they cannot pay me, I have no choice but to take over the management.”

The post Innoson Chief: I’ll Soon Takeover GTBank appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.