Appeal Court adjourns ruling in GTB, Innoson suit

The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, on Thursday, adjourned to a yet to be determined date to rule on an application filed by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to amend its motion of appeal against the judgment of an Awka Federal High Court in its dispute with Innoson Motors.


At the resumed hearing of the matter, counsel for GTB, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, informed the court that the bank wished to withdraw an earlier motion it filed in the matter.

However, counsel for Innoson Motors, Prof. McCarthy Mbadugha, opposed GTB’s application for the withdrawal of the motion, which sought an extension of time to respond to a counter-affidavit filed by Innoson Motors against the bank’s motion to amend the notice of appeal.

Mbadugha argued that GTB couldn’t be allowed to move an application before the court since it had yet to comply with an outstanding court order.

He maintained that since the appeal had been entered at the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal lacked the powers to entertain it.

But Olanipekun, counsel for GTB, argued that once an application for withdrawal had been made, the applicant could withdraw his application, and such an application for withdrawal couldn’t be opposed.

The panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, upheld Olanipekun’s argument.