EcoBank asks Court to restrain Otudeko’s Son and others from selling 6.3 billion shares 

This request was made in a motion accompanying the bank’s main suit, both instituted by Kunle Ogunba (SAN) against Otudeko, Barbican Capital Limited, Honeywell Flourmills of Nigeria Plc, Siloam Global Services Limited, Oyeleye Foluke, FBN Holdings Plc, CAC, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX).

The bank’s lawyer alleges that Honeywell, Siloam, and Otudeko (2nd to 4th defendants) are taking steps to deprive the plaintiff of its right to benefit from the Supreme Court judgment in Suit No. SC/CV/210/2021, which allegedly affirmed the indebtedness of Honeywell and Siloam to the plaintiff, by divesting the stakes of Honeywell and using the funds realized from this to set up Barbican.

According to the motion, Ogunba sought “an order of interim injunction of this court restraining the defendants on record, either collectively or individually, from taking any steps to amortize, dematerialize, compromise, sell, transfer, or otherwise deal with the 6,314,116,229 collective aggregate shares of the 1st defendant in the 6th defendant pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.” 

He added that Honeywell, Siloam, and Otudeko are taking steps to deprive the plaintiff of its right to benefit from the Supreme Court judgment by divesting Honeywell’s stakes.

“Barbican (1st defendant) is an affiliate company of Honeywell and is using the funds realized from the divestment of Honeywell to acquire 6,314,116,229 (15.08%) shares in FBN Holdings, thereby using funds that should have been used to settle Honeywell’s indebtedness to the plaintiff,” he added.

“Thus, there is an urgent need for this Honourable Court to grant the application of the plaintiff in this suit to restrain the defendants from tampering with the res (subject matter) in this suit,” he stated.

At the resumed hearing of the motion on April 3, Ogunba moved his motion and urged the court to grant the interim orders in the interest of justice.

The case was then adjourned to April 15, 2025, for hearing the motion on notice.

EcoBank and Honeywell have been in a long-standing legal battle since 2015 over an unpaid debt of N5.5 billion by the latter.

But the Supreme Court in 2023,  dismissed an appeal by Honeywell Flour Mills Limited challenging the judgement of the Court of Appeal in a N5.5 billion debt dispute with Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

The Supreme Court panel, led by Tijjani Abubakar, delivered the judgment on the substantive issues, holding that  Honeywell, Anchorage, and Siloam were indeed indebted to Ecobank.