Court begins impoundment of Taraba govt vehicles over debts

The Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital has ordered the impoundment of all vehicles belonging to the Taraba State government over the failure of Governor Darius Ishaku and the state government to obey the order of the court to pay a company the sum of N550 million.

Tribune Online reports that 16 vehicles have been impounded so far including an ambulance.

The judgement of the court in the suit marked FHC/JAL/CS/3/2020 between Motherwell N.A. International Ltd for itself and on behalf of Closed Joint Stock Institute of Aerospace Instrumentation of the Russian Federation verses the Attorney General of Taraba State and the Government of Taraba State pasted on the impounded vehicles reads; “upon the judgement of this honourable court delivered on June 10, 2020, it is hereby ordered that the plaintiff is entitled to the payment of N550,000.000.00 being the amount due but unpaid to the plaintiff by the defendants.

“The N550 million is the amount due to the plaintiff by the defendants from the contract for the Satellite Survey and Analysis of Hydrocarbon Feed Stock Deposit of River Benue Valley territory of Taraba State.”

This is even as the court awarded N200,000 as a cost against the defendants in favour of the plaintiff.

But following the failure of the State government to honour the judgement of the court, the company again approached the court which also issued a writ of attachment and sale of goods ordered against the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Taraba State and the state government.

A staff of the company told our correspondent that the court granted that in the event of the government defaulting to pay the debt, the court allowed the company “to take control by the sale of goods and chattels of the defendants, wheresoever they may be found within the federal high court’s jurisdiction.”

In compliance with the judgment, some vehicles belonging to the state government have been seized and kept in the custody of the court.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Taraba State, Barr Sam Adda, failed as his phone lines were switched off as at the time of compiling this report.

(Tribune)