The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has ordered the First City Monument Bank to pay the N540 million in damages awarded against it by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory for defaming a preacher, Emmanuel Omale of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, and his wife, Deborah.
Justice Yusuf Halilu of the High Court of the FCT, in a judgement delivered on October 4, 2022, held that the bank recklessly breached the duty of care it owes to the claimants, Omale, his wife, and their church, by making the false claim that former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, paid N573 million into the church’s account.
The Court of Appeal, in a ruling on February 1, 2024, rejected the request by FCMB for a stay of execution of the judgement pending the determination of its appeal, as prayed in a motion on notice it filed.
Instead, a three-member panel of Justices of the appellate court, presided over by Justice Muhammed Shuaibu, granted a conditional stay of the execution of the judgement by ordering the bank to pay the judgement sum of N540 million into an interest-yielding account in the name of the court’s Chief Registrar.
In an enrolled copy of the ruling, the appellate court held that “the application is granted as prayed in terms of the first prayer in the appellant’s motion filed on 3/11/2022.
Consequently, a conditional stay of execution of the judgement is hereby granted to the appellant.
“The condition being that the judgement sum shall be deposited into an interest-bearing bank account of the court to be opened by the Chief Registrar of this court within 48 hours of the grant of this order,” the court held and adjourned further hearings until a date to be communicated to parties by the court’s registry.
The conditional stay granted by the Court of Appeal was alternatively conceded by the respondents—Omale, his wife, and the church—in their counter affidavit to the appellant’s motion, which they had actually sought to be dismissed.
The October 4 judgement by Justice Halilu was on a defamation suit marked FCT/HC/CV2541/2020 filed by Omale, his wife, and the church against the bank.
It would be recalled that during the investigation of Magu by the Justice Isa Salami-led presidential investigation panel, it was claimed that an investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit revealed that the ex-EFCC Chairman paid N573 million into Omale’s church’s account with which property was allegedly bought in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Justice Halilu, in the judgement, noted that evidence before his court showed that the bank admitted an error in its report to the NFIU of entries in the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account.
The judge further noted that the bank claimed that the purported N573 million was wrongly reflected as a credit entry in the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.
Justice Halilu noted that the bank admitted the error, which caused incalculable damage to the reputation of the claimants both within and outside the country.
He held that the claimants provided sufficient evidence to establish a case of negligence against the bank and proceeded to award N200 million as aggravated damages, N140,500,000 as specific damages, and N200 million as general damages.
