Parallex Bank Restricted has requested the Excessive Courtroom of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to put aside a N7.15 billion freezing order positioned on its funds, arguing that the choice was reached in breach of its constitutional proper to a good listening to.
The request is contained in a movement on discover dated January 7, 2026, filed by the bank.
The appliance follows an interim ruling arising from a swimsuit instituted by FHT Mega Categorical Restricted over an alleged breach of belief and failure to honour a Letters of Credit score settlement, with the bank insisting that the court docket lacked the jurisdiction to make the order.
What they’re saying
In its software earlier than the court docket, Parallex Bank maintained that the freezing order was wrongly granted and needs to be vacated as a result of the matter is already allegedly the topic of a number of fits.
The bank argued that this made the motion an abuse of court docket course of and rendered the ex parte proceedings invalid.
“By cause of the abusive nature of this swimsuit, this Honourable Courtroom lacks the jurisdiction to entertain or adjudicate upon it, or to listen to and decide the Claimant/Respondent’s movement ex parte dated November 20, 2025, and filed on the identical date, or to grant the ex parte orders made on December 18, 2025.”
“The ex parte orders had been made in violation of the Defendants’/Respondents’ and Applicant’s proper to honest listening to with respect to the subject material of the swimsuit.”
“The ex parte orders had been granted regardless of the absence of any actual urgency or proof of a risk of dissipation, which might have necessitated granting the appliance with out discover to the Applicant, different Defendants/Respondents, or events.”
The bank’s counsel, Prof. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, additionally urged the court docket to carry that it lacked territorial jurisdiction and to droop proceedings pending the willpower of the movement, whereas setting apart and staying the execution of the December 18, 2025 ex parte order.
Backstory
The dispute traces again to an interim resolution delivered by Justice Hauwa Lawal Gummi of the FCT Excessive Courtroom in December 2025. Performing on an ex parte software by FHT Mega Categorical Restricted, the court docket ordered that N7.15 billion allegedly linked to the dispute be preserved pending the listening to of a substantive movement on discover.
The order directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sequester the funds in an interest-yielding account.
The respondents named within the swimsuit are Parallex Bank Restricted, the CBN, and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance coverage Company (NDIC).
The appliance was filed beneath Swimsuit No: CV/4737/2025, with Movement No: M15374/2025, and was granted on December 18, 2025.
In granting the interim reduction, the court docket held that preserving the funds was needed to stop dissipation and to guard the integrity of the continuing dispute between the events.
What you need to know
Ex parte functions and orders are recognised instruments in civil litigation, usually used the place urgency is alleged and giving discover may defeat the aim of the appliance.
Nevertheless, such orders are provisional and discretionary and could also be reviewed after the affected events are heard.
Ex parte orders are interim in nature and don’t lastly decide the rights of the events.
Courts retain inherent powers to discharge or put aside such orders if obtained with out jurisdiction or by means of suppression of fabric information.
On this case, Parallex Bank insists the order was obtained with out urgency and amid pending fits on the identical material.
TheCable reviews that the court docket has adjourned the matter to February 4, when arguments on the software are anticipated to be thought-about.
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