NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT OF NIGERIA DIRECTS POLARIS BANK TO PAY JUDGMENT SUM ORDERED AGAINST IT’S CUSTOMER 17-02-25
By Sadiq Aminu The Presiding Judge of the Awka Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice John Targema, has made an order of garnishee absolute in favor of Engr Mozie. The court instructed Polaris Bank, the garnishee, to immediately pay the judgment sum of N4,756,520.08, with accrued interest, to the Chief Registrar of the Court.
Justice Targema further ordered that the sum be placed in an interest-yielding account with a reputable commercial bank until the outcome of the Court of Appeal’s decision concerning the matter against the judgment debtor, Ibeto Petrochemical Industries.
The case stemmed from a judgment delivered on July 14, 2023, where the Court ruled in favor of Engr Mozie, declaring the termination of his employment as wrongful. Ibeto Petrochemical Industries was ordered to pay the judgment sum, but as the matter went up to court of Appeal, Engr. Mozie through his Counsel commenced garnishee proceeding against his former employer, Ibeto Petrochemical Industries.
Although, Ibeto Petrochemical filed a Preliminary Objection, arguing that a stay of execution had been sought at the Court of Appeal and that the garnishee application was an abuse of process. However, Justice Targema ruled that the filing of an appeal does not automatically stay execution and upheld the garnishee order, dismissing Ibeto Petrochemical’s objection as lacking in merit.
Consequently, the court found the garnishee application by Engr Mozie to be well-founded and made an absolute order, directing the judgement debtor to deposit the sum of money due to the judgement Creditor into the account of the court Registrar, pending the determination of the matter pending before the court of Appeal.