Authorities of   the Federal High Court in Abuja have debunked the claims that they ordered   freezing the bank accounts of Benue and Plateau states contrary to reports in some sections of the media.

The Court’s Chief Registrar, Mrs. Rosemary Dugbo Oghoghorie stated this on Friday at a press conference to deny the said reports in Abuja.

The Court’s clarification followed media reports that said the court had frozen the bank accounts of the two states last last Monday.

“The Federal High Court has not frozen Benue and Plateau bank accounts.

“All the court did was that it  granted an order that the bankers of Plateau and Benue States are to appear in court on June 1 to show why they should not be made to pay about N1.6bn from the accounts of the states to satisfy the judgment it gave on judiciary autonomy on January 13, 2014.”, Oghoghorie said.

She explained further that attaching revenue or funds was quite different from freezing the bank accounts as earlier reported.

“Freezing an account means the account cannot be touched as a whole, while attaching revenue or funds means that certain amount cannot be touched in an account”, Oghoghorie clarified.

The Chief Registrar solicited for the cooperation of journalists with judges while reporting court activities.

She said there was need for the press to work with the judiciary.

“There is need for the media to report adequately court’s orders, judgments and pronouncements, rather than tilting what was ordered by the court”, Oghoghorie said.

 It would be recalled that Justice Adeniyi Ademola had last Wednesday ordered the bankers of Plateau and Benue States to appear in court on June 1 to show why they should not be made to pay about N1.6bn from the accounts of the states to satisfy the judgment it gave on judiciary autonomy on January 13, 2014.

The presiding judge, Justice Ademola, who had delivered the judgment in favour of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), granted the fresh order in his ruling on separate garnishee applications the union filed against the two states on April 20, 2015.

The union stated   in the separate applications that the amount due to Benue State judiciary “as at March 2015, is N957,630,349.57” and the amount due to the Plateau State judiciary for the same period is N673,019,948.19.

 The order was granted last Monday but a copy of it released to journalists on Tuesday showed that Skye Bank Plc was summoned with respect to the bank account of Benue State while Zenith Bank, First Bank of Nigeria and First City Monument Bank Plc were summoned with respect to the bank accounts of Plateau State.

The earlier judgment of the court delivered in January 2014 affirmed the financial autonomy status granted the judiciary by the constitution and abolished the piecemeal funding of the arm of government by the state governments.

The union had embarked on protracted industrial action due to refusal of the various state governments to comply with the judgment.

The governor and the Attorney-General of Benue State representing the state government are the 15th and 16th defendants in the suit while the governor and AGF representing the Plateau State government are the 63rd and 64th defendants.

In the garnishee application filed ex parte by JUSUN, the union described Plateau and Benue state governments as  part of the defendants in the suit who “bluntly refused to obey the judgment of the court”.

The two judiciary of the two states are said to be owing their workers who are members of the union “arrears of salary and other funds due to them up to March 2015”.

The supporting affidavits accompanying the applications stated that all efforts made to the state governments “to comply with   the judgment of this honourable court fell on deaf ears”.

The order with respect to Benue State read in part, “That an order nisi is hereby made attaching the money belonging to the 15th and 16th judgment debtors/respondents domiciled with Skye Bank Plc, Makurdi Branch – account number 170008758 to satisfy the judgment awarded in favou of the judgment creditor/applicant.

“The garnishee to show cause why the order nisi should not be made absolute by the court.”

The court adjourned the garnishee proceedings till June 1, the day the affected banks are due to appear in court.[wpdevart_like_box profile_id=”1″ connections=”6″ width=”300″ height=”550″ header=”0″ locale=”en_US”]

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Court Denies Freezing the Accounts of Plateau State Government