Show Of Shame:Olisa Agbakoba/Wale Babalakin Almost Exchange Blows As Court Vacates Order On MM2

It was a full blown drama monday at the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos as a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and Chairman of Bi-Courtney Group, Mr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), engaged in a brawl at the resumed hearing of a debt recovery suit between Babalakin and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The altercation almost degenerated into fisticuffs between the two senior lawyers but for the prompt intervention of other lawyers including Wale Akoni (SAN) and Abiodun Layonu (SAN).

Trouble started when Justice Ibrahim Buba upturned an earlier order made by another judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang, empowering AMCON to take over the assets of Babalakin’s companies, including Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

In the order, Agbakoba was also appointed as the receiver/manager over all the companies of Babalakin including Bi-Courtney Limited, Chartered Investment Limited, Resort International Limited and Roygate Properties Limited.
The orders were based on an agreed N50 billion, which Babalakin allegedly admitted owing AMCON.

But the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Auta, had re-assigned the case to Justice Buba, who was handling the previous case between the parties.
When the case came up yesterday, Babalakin’s lawyers, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN) and Mr. Abiodun Layonu, had urged the court to suspend the interim orders made by Justice Abang empowering Agbakoba to act as the receiver/manager for the companies.

Akoni argued that the integrity of the court had been badly affected with the conflicting order, and that there was a serious need for the court to act fast to stop the development.

Layonu said the Federal High Court, as an institution, had been scandalised with the orders of Abang, because Justice Buba had made specific orders restraining AMCON from appointing a receiver/manager and or taking over the companies.
“For AMCON to now secretly obtain another order at variance with a subsisting order from a different court is an attempt to scandalise this court and cause confusion.

“Already, banks and the police are implementing Abang’s orders, and that is the more reason why this court should act fast,” Layonu submitted.
Responding, Agbakoba said as far as he was concerned, there was no confusion with Abang’s orders.

He said the suit before Abang was filed pursuant to the new cause of action that arose out of the admission by Babalakin that he was indebted to AMCON to the tune of N50 billion.

He recalled that the cases were basically on determining the actual debt owed by Babalakin and the debt swap arising from the argument by the defendants that the federal government was indebted to Babalakin to the tune of over N132 billion, pursuant to a judgment.

He added that after a series of meetings, Babalakin agreed that he was indebted to AMCON, and that all cases would be compromised and withdrawn.

Agbakoba maintained that trouble started when Babalakin failed to abide by the terms of the agreement, especially regarding the transfer of the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi to AMCON, as agreed.

Agbakoba further explained that Babalakin and his lawyers failed to understand when a cause of action arises in a case and ends.

In his ruling, Justice Buba held that the action of AMCON was clearly an abuse and a nullity, as the suit before Abang was filed and orders obtained in the face of previous cases and specific orders.

The judge described the action of AMCON as nothing but that of a party that felt that a court could only bark but not bite.

The judge added that it was clear from the processes before the court that Justice Abang was misled by AMCON to grant the interim orders, having failed to notify the court of the existing orders.

The judge then vacated the order of Justice Abang and held that it was clearly an abuse of court process.

However, Justice Buba advised the parties to reach an out-of-court settlement.
He said: “I don’t want to talk much on this matter but I wonder if lawyers cannot resolve their disputes amicably.”

The matter was subsequently adjourned to December 9 for mention.
Babalakin, who was seated in his black Toyota Land Cruiser within the court premises throughout the proceedings, came out at the same time Agbakoba emerged from the court.

Agbakoba then looked at Babalakin and said: “Wale, give me my money. I will collect my money from you and that’s final.”

Responding, Babalakin threatened to come after Agbakoba.
Pointing at Agbakoba, Babalakin said: “Why do you want to ruin me. You want to kill my businesses, I will never allow you.”

Agbakoba then angrily retorted: “You this small lawyer, when did you start practising, sef (exclamation in pidgin English)? I am 40 years at the bar, and so you are too small for me.”

As the two lawyers exchanged hot words, Akoni and Layonu intervened and brought the situation under control.

However, expressing satisfaction with the vacation order in favour of Babalakin and his companies, the management of Bi-Courtney, in a statement yesterday, said that the court’s decision was consistent with its position all along that “Agbakoba is not the receiver of MMA2 or Bi-Courtney Limited or any other company related to Bi-Courtney”.

It said: “The court categorically affirmed that the order obtained by Agbakoba on behalf of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) constitutes a gross abuse of the process of court and was designed to ridicule the legal system.

“The court further declared the order a nullity ab-initio, which means that in the eye of the law, it never existed in the first place and any action taken by AMCON or its counsel or purported receiver further to the illegal order is also a nullity.”

Bi-Courtney stressed that the order obtained by AMCON was illegal, adding that the whole exercise was designed to undermine an important arm of government and “was condemned in the strongest terms by the presiding Judge, Justice M.I. Buba”.

The management of Bi-Courtney maintained that the company is not indebted to AMCON or any person claiming through AMCON in any manner whatsoever.

“On the contrary, it is AMCON and the Federal Government of Nigeria that owe Bi-Courtney N132 billion which has remained unpaid till date. Bi-Courtney and affiliated companies will continue to provide exceptional services to Nigerians as demonstrated by MMA2, which has been acclaimed by all to be the best run in the country,” the company said.

Reacting further at a press briefing held at the conference hall of MMA2, Bi-Courtney described the order as a decisive victory for the rule of law, which further strengthened its confidence in the judicial process.

The company also described the “purported take-over of the terminal and the old Federal Secretarial, both in Lagos, by AMCON as a contrived and reckless action and a deliberate assault on the integrity of the judicial system by the corporation and its ‘self-styled’ receiver, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba”.

Bi-Courtney reaffirmed that AMCON and the federal government are indebted to it to the tune of N132 by virtue of a subsisting 2011 ruling of the Federal High Court.

It described the management of AMCON, led by Mustafa Chike Obi and its counsel, Agbakoba, as serial abusers of the law, while noting that “the order purportedly obtained by Agbakoba was fraudulently and unlawfully obtained from the Federal High Court by concealing the existence of two court orders since 4th November 2011, in suit numbers: FHC/L/CS/1305/2011 and FHC/L/CS/1306/2011, which specifically restrained the federal government and AMCON from interfering with operations and finances of Bi-Courtney Limited and Resort International Limited as well as their related or associated companies”.

It added: “It is noteworthy that with AMCON being a party in the above matter and Olisa Agbakoba being its counsel, the purported appointment of the same Agbakoba as a receiver was demonstrable evidence of the cavalier, contemptuous and illegal actions of Olisa Agbakoba, Mustafa Chike Obi and AMCON.”

Bi-Courtney described the failed attempt by AMCON to disrupt the operations of MMA2, which is the only successful concession in the country, as insensitive, with grave implications for the drive to engender a private sector-led resuscitation of public infrastructure and the nation’s economy.

It branded AMCON as “disruptive and meddlesome”, adding that its style “is totally unacceptable in any civilised part of the world, especially in an emerging democracy. It is a deliberate attempt to frustrate investments, commercial development and job creation in Nigeria”.