Court of Appeal orders FCMB to pay N540 million in defamation case

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, has directed First City Monument Bank, FCMB, to pay the sum of N540 million in damages awarded against it for the alleged defamation of Prophet Emmanuel Omale and his wife, Deborah.

Also read: Family cries out Has FCMB refuses to release money of a dying lady

Recall that Justice Yusuf Halilu of a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court had, in a judgment on October 4, 2022, awarded the sum against FCMB.

Justice Halilu held that the bank recklessly breached the duty of care it owed to Omale of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, his wife, and the church.

The judge agreed that the bank made a false claim that the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, paid N573 million to the church’s account.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal, in a ruling on February 1, rejected FCMB’s request for a stay of execution of the judgment pending the determination of its appeal, as prayed in a motion on notice it filed.

Instead, a three-member panel presided over by Justice Muhammed Shuaibu, granted a conditional stay of the execution of the judgment by ordering the bank to pay the judgment sum of N540 million into an interest-yielding account in the name of the court’s chief registrar.

In an enrolled copy of the ruling sighted on Sunday, the appellate court said: “The application is granted as prayed in terms of the first prayer in the appellant’s motion filed on March 3, 2022.

“Consequently, conditional stay of execution of the judgment is hereby granted to the appellant.”

According to the appellate court, the condition is that the judgment sum shall be deposited into an interest-yielding bank account of the court, to be opened by the chief registrar of this court within 48 hours of the grant of this order.

The panel then adjourned further hearing until a date to be communicated to parties by the court’s registry.

The conditional stay granted by the Court of Appeal was alternatively conceded by the respondents; Omale, his wife, and the church, in their counter affidavit to the appellant’s motion, which they had actually sought to be dismissed.