Magu: FCMB bows to pressure, deposits N540m damages awarded to Prophet Omale

The First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has obeyed the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja and deposited the N540million damages awarded to Prophet Emmanuel Omale into an interest yielding account of the Chief Registrar of the court.

The FCMB paid the money into an interest yielding account of the Chief Registrar in Premium Trust Bank on February 8, 2024 as directed by the appellate court.

The bank took the step in a bid to prevent contempt proceedings against its Managing Director, Mrs Yemisi Edun, for alleged disobedience to court order.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja had on February 2, 2024, ordered the FCMB to pay the N540million damages awarded against it by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja for defaming Omale of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry and his wife, Deborah.

The appellate court also directed the FCMB to pay the money into an interest yielding account of its Chief Registrar within 48 hours of its enrolled order.

The development prompted the lead lawyer to Omale, Chief Gordy Uche (SAN), to write a letter to the lead lawyer to FCMB, Prof Wale Olawoyin (SAN), informing him that he would not hesitate to initiate contempt proceedings against the Managing Director of the bank if the money is not paid as directed by the appellate court.

Uche’s letter dated February 2, 2024 reads in part, “Consequently, the conditional stay of execution is hereby granted to the Appellant. The condition being that the judgment sum shall be deposited into an interest yielding bank account of the Court to be opened by the Chief Registrar of this Court within 48 hours of the grant of this Order.”

“May we also bring to your knowledge the fact that this conditional stay of execution was a consent order having been consented to by M.S. Hamza Esq. who held your brief for the Appellant.

“Wherefore we wish to state that if the said judgment sum of N540, 500, ooo. oo (five hundred and forty million, five hundred thousand naira) is not immediately deposited with the Court of Appeal as directed in the enrolled order of Court, we shall commence contempt proceedings against the Managing Director of First City Monument Bank, to commit her to Prison for disobedience to order of Court.”

Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court in Abuja had in a judgment on October 4, 2022 held that the bank recklessly breached the duty of care it owe to the claimants – Omale, his wife and their church – by making false claim that former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu paid N573m the church’s account.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the FCMB filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal in Abuja, asking it to set aside the verdict of the lower court.

But the Court of Appeal in a ruling on February 1, rejected FCMB’s request for a stay of execution of the judgment pending the determination of its appeal as prayed in a motion on notice it filed.

Instead, a three-member panel presided over by a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA), Justice Muhammed Shuaibu, granted a conditional stay of the execution of the judgment by ordering the bank to pay the judgment sum of N540million into an interest yeilding account in the name of the court’s Chief Registrar.

In an enrolled copy of the ruling, the appellate court said: “The application is granted as prayed in terms of the first prayer in the appellant’s motion filed on 3/11/2022.

“Consequently, conditional stay of execution of the judgment is hereby granted to the appellant.

“The condition being that the judgment sum shall be deposited into an interest yielding bank account of the court to be opened by the Chief Registrar of this court within 48 hours of the grant of this order.”