FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, on Tuesday described a garnishee order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay the people of Ejama Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State a total sum of N182.7 billion as strange.
The bank which stated this in a statement, signed by its Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, stated that the ruling was made without regard to appeal before the Supreme Court.
“FirstBank’s involvement in the matter only arose from the Litigation Guarantee in the sum of N17.2 billion plus interest it issued at Shell’s request as a condition for the stay of execution of a ruling in a lawsuit between Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (Shell) and the Ejama Ebubu Community which is still subject to two separate and subsisting appeals before the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“While FirstBank will not go into the details of the matter as same remains subjudice, it is important to state that the said ruling was made without regard to the said appeals before the Supreme Court. It is also necessary to put it on record that the sum of N182.7billion remains strange to us as we are not aware of any such judgment sum by any court of law capable of being enforced by a garnishee proceeding.
“With specific reference to the reported recent ruling of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, FirstBank and all the other necessary parties to the garnishee order proceedings have filed their respective appeals against the ruling. The appropriate applications to restrain parties from overreaching and undermining the outcome of the appeals are also in place already.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, FirstBank has always conducted its business operations in strict compliance with all extant rules and regulations whilst meeting its obligations as and when due,” the statement said.