A Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, the state capital, has issued a warrant of arrest against Jonah Akama, the state controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, over disobedience to court order.
The warrant of arrest stipulates that Makama should be arrested by any police officer who comes across him.
The arrest warrant, issued to journalists in Jos and signed by Justice N.D. Shaseet said it followed Akama’s failure to appear before the court over the case with John Eche Okpe.
The case, with the number PLD/J397/m/2023, is a suit instituted by John Eche Okpe, a legal practitioner based in Jos, who obtained judgement against the Federal Government of Nigeria and some of its agencies and sought to enforce the judgement via garnishee proceedings against the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The garnishee order nisi to the tune of N10 million was made absolute by Justice N.D. Shaseet of the Plateau State High Court of Justice on November 1, 2023.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria has refused to comply with the order.
This necessitated that the judgement creditor commence contempt proceedings against the Jos branch controller of the bank.
After several attempts, necessitating about three adjournments, the alleged contemnor has continued to evade court sittings.
On December 14, 2023, the court, left with no option, issued a warrant of arrest to compel the attendance of the alleged contemnor to show cause why he should not be committed to prison.
The application for the issuance of a warrant of arrest was made by Daniel Agabi, who led the team of lawyers for the judgment creditor.
Reacting to the arrest warrant, the legal officer of CBN, Jos Branch, Bashir Garkami, said, “We will appeal the case.”
In the meantime, the case has been adjourned until December 22, 2023
