Algrain Foods Limited and the receiver reportedly appointed by First City Monument Bank and First Bank of Nigeria Limited to manage the affairs of company, Mr Ade Oyebanji, have clashed over the alleged sale of the assets of the company.
While the directors of the food company described the purported sale of the assets of the company by the receiver as illegal, Oyebanji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, declared the reported assets sale was ordered by the court.
Already, Algrain Foods Limited directors and the receiver are in court over the matter, with a suit reportedly pending before the Court of Appeal.
In a statement made available on Thursday, the receiver described the sale of the assets, put at about N20bn, as lawful and one that followed due process.
The statement by the receiver followed a petition to the Inspector General of Police by the counsel to Algrain Foods Limited alleging that the assets were sold illegally.
However, Oyebanji, in the statement described Algrain Foods Limited as a customer of FCMB and FBN and that both financial institutions appointed FCMB Trustees Limited as the Trustee to manage the assets on their behalf.
In 2016, the Trustee reportedly appointed Oyebanji as the receiver over all the assets and debenture as duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The claims could not be independently verified by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.
However according to the statement, the receiver reportedly obtained a protective interim order of possession in 2017 from the Federal High Court Lagos, in suit No: FHC/L/CS/06/2017.
But during the pendency of the suit, in 2020, Algrain Foods Limited and its director reportedly sued the bank and the receiver before the Federal High Court, claiming among others that the Receiver committed trespass and that the court should appoint independent auditors, and grant the sum of N20bn against the bank in suit No: FHC/L/CS/1764/2020, it added.
In the statement, the receiver further claimed the case of Algrain Foods Limited, the directors Vs. CSL Trustees Limited (FCMB), First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Emmanuel Adeyeye Oyebanji were reportedly dismissed on October 24, 2021 by the Federal High Court.
The statement added that on November 3, 2021, the Federal High Court delivered Judgment in the receivership case in favour of the bank and the Receiver in suit No: FHC/L/CS/06/2017 between CSL Trustees Limited, First City Monument Bank Limited, and First Bank of Nigeria Limited Vs. Algrain Foods Limited, and the director. According to Oyebanji, the Federal High Court granted all the reliefs sought by the Trustees and the bank.
Oyebanji claimed the judgment was a declaratory judgment, saying, “There was no appeal; no stay of execution filed by Counsel to AIgrain Foods Limited until 9th of November 2021.”
According to him, Algrain Food filed Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal dated November 9, 2021 and the matter is currently pending at the Appeal Court. The claims could not be verified as of press time.
However, the receiver alleged the food company’s directors were allegedly using law enforcement agents to deny the buyer the use of the property.
Algrain Food and their directors’ responses could not be immediately obtained of the time of filing the report.
