Garnishing: Benue govt unaware of motion exparte – Commissioner

KAJO MARTINS, MAKURDI

Benue State Government has said it was not served the Motion exparte prior to the garnishing of its accounts over a N333 million loan acquired in 2008.

It would be recalled that a Federal High court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo had on Wednesday issued an interim order, freezing all bank accounts belonging to the Benue state government, for its inability to repay the loan.

Attorney General and Commissioner Justice in Benue state, Michael Gusa in a reaction said, Justice Ekwo acted based on an ex-parte motion brought before the Court by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

According to him, his office was not served with that process or served with the writ of the originating summons.

“We have sent our lawyers to the court and since we have not been served with the originating summons and with the urgency of the matter and the way all government accounts have been placed on lien, we have sent our lawyers to the court to find out what the problem is”.

“That order was made on motion exparte and it is based on the purported contract that was gone into by the business man and the Labour Congress here in Benue state. The State government only offered an ISPO by way of directing that the loan will be paid”.

The Commissioner who insisted that government have not been served with the notice, said as soon as tha is done, his office will also commence proceedings to set a side the orders that were made by the motion exparte.

“All we know is that it was a loan that was obtained in 2008 and you can see that the action is starting now. I don’t want to say anything more than this as I have not seen the writ of summon and the process myself”.

“This got to our notice yesterday (Wednesday) and we are in court already; I don’t want to say anything because the matter is pending in court.
When we get our writ of summon, we will also send our processes to court and get it placated.” He said.