Court freezes Oyo state government accounts over N3.3bn debt owed to sacked LGs chairpersons

A federal capital territory (FCT) high court has issued a garnishee order nisi against the Oyo government over N3.3 billion debt owed to former local government chairpersons and councillors sacked in the state in 2019.

A Garnishee order nisi is a court order served on financial institutions, banks or any person believed to be in possession of funds of a judgment debtor.

Its purpose is to compel persons or the institutions served to disclose to the court whether or not they are in possession of funds of the judgment debtor and the specifics of such funds.

Service of this order on any financial institution also operates to freeze the account of the judgment debtor in the event that such debtor maintains an account with the bank.

A. O. Ebong, the presiding judge, issued the order while ruling on a motion ex-parte marked FCT/HC/BW/M/238/2023 filed by the ex-chairpersons and councillors led by Bashorun Majeed, Bosun Ajuwon, and Idris Okusesi.

The ruling was delivered on March 2.

The affected banks are First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank, and Zenith Bank.

The judge ordered the banks to show cause why the order should not be made absolute.

The funds are to settle the outstanding balance of N3,374,889,425.60 from the judgment debt owed to the former LGA chairpersons and councillors sacked by Seyi Makinde, Oyo governor, on May 29, 2019, before the end of their tenure.