A lawyer, Noble Ifeme, is seeking to commit to jail, the founder of Arise Television and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Leaders & Company Limited, publishers of THISDAY newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena.
Ifeme is making the move based on available court documents.
A former Editor of Saturday Newspaper of THISDAY, Paul Ibe, had in July 2011 slammed a multi-million naira suit on THISDAY and Obaigbena.
Ibe is seeking, among other reliefs, payment of his pension, outstanding entitlements, remittance of his tax as deducted by the company and for the court to order the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, the Press Council of Nigeria and the Federal Inland Revenue Service to investigate the defendants.
Justice M. N. Esowe of the National Industrial Court on February 18 in suit number NICN/ABJ/26/2011 awarded N1 million in general damages and other succeeding relief running into several millions of Naira to Ibe in the suit against Obaigbena and Leaders & Company Limited.
That Justice Esowe on April 21 granted an order nisi in favour of Ibe to the tune of N19,723,854.61 as requested in the garneshe application brought to enforce the judgment debt.
But counsel to Ibe, Ifeme of Trinity Chambers, has filed an application at the NIC seeking to commit to prison Obaigbena and agent(s) of Leaders & Company Limited.
The application will be heard on Wednesday (today).
The motion on notice was brought pursuant to order 29 rule 1 (1) (2) (a) (b), 2 (1) & 2 of the National Industrial Court Rules 2007.
In the motion on notice dated May 25, 2015, signed by Ifeme, the court is urged to make an order of committal to prison for contempt of court against the judgment Debtors/Respondents (Nduka Obaigbena and agent(s) of Leaders and Company Limited); an order for substituted services on the Judgment Debtors/Respondents by pasting same on conspicuous parts of their principal place of business at 1 Solomon Lar Way, Jabi, Utako District, Abuja. Also the court is being urged to make an order deeming the aforesaid service as proper and effective and for such further or other orders as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.
Ifeme predicated the application on two grounds, namely: that the court had delivered judgment on February 18, 2015 that the Judgment Debtor (Nduka Obaigbena and Leaders and Company Limited) shall take steps and pay the Judgment Creditor (Paul Ibe) all sum of money contained in the aforesaid judgment and that the Judgment Debtor has wilfully neglected, failed and refused to comply with the aforesaid judgment till date.
The application is supported by a five-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Chika Onyiorah, a lawyer.
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