The application brought by the estate of the late Abubakar Garba Gobir against the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for disregarding a court order will be heard by the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) on December 15.
In a ruling dated January 6, 2023, the tribunal ordered the SEC to uphold its ruling against FINMAL Finance and Services Limited and give the late ambassador’s estate N170,036,405.79 in accrued dividends.
The estate approached the tribunal to seek remedy since FINMAL has not complied with the decision, even after being reminded in writing.
In an attempt to enforce its decision and force the DG to abide by the provisions of the judgment, the estate has taken the measure of filing a contempt case against him.
After filing Forms 48 and 49 and receiving a judgment that was not followed, the Gobir Estate began the suit with the designation IST/LA/OA/01/2022. This sparked committal procedures under Order IX Rules 13 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act of 2010.
The petitioner is pleading with the tribunal to compel the respondents—Greenwich Registrar & Data Solutions Limited, Professional Stockbrokers Limited, FINMAL Finance, and the SEC—to follow its ruling.
The applicant’s attorney, Ahmed Tafa, informed the tribunal panel during the resumed procedure that he had served the respondents’ forms 48 and 49 proceeding application for neglecting to follow the tribunal’s order.
He pointed out that the committal proceeding was necessary since, on January 6th, 2023, the respondents were supposed to have started the process of enforcing their decision, but they haven’t.
While the second respondent (FINMAL) is not represented by counsel, the counsels for the first respondent (Greenwich Registrar), Abubakar Ibrahim; the third respondent (Professional Stockbrokers); and the fourth respondent (SEC), Momoh Ali, declared their appearances.
In reply to Tafa’s statement, Disu informed the tribunal that his client had instructed FINMAL to sell the shares under its ownership to satisfy the judgment debt. He also pledged to communicate with the applicant’s attorney to resolve the issue.
