Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Senator Peter Nwaoboshi representing Delta North district has approached the Abuja division of the Federal High Court to vacate its orders freezing his accounts in four banks.
The order was obtained on July 2 via a motion exparte which was moved and argued by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (“SPIP”) on behalf of the Federal Government.
Specifically, the court granted the order for interim attachment of the accounts in Zenith, Access, UBA and Sterling banks. However, in a motion on notice filed on July 11, Nwaoboshi through his counsel, Robert Clarke (SAN), equally challenged the court’s jurisdiction to further hear the applicant in relation to is assets.
He contended that the SPIP made false claim in obtaining the orders.
The Senator stated: “The suit said to have been filed in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and purportedly by the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the ex-parte interim forfeiture and restraining orders sought and obtained therein, was so filed and obtained by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (“SPIP”) in the absence of any lawful authority. By the decision in Tumsah v. FRN (2018) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1648) 238, the SPIP is lacks the competence to institute this Suit and to seek and obtain the said ex-parte interim forfeiture and restraining orders.