Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos will, on July 12, 2024, hear a winding-up petition filed by Nova Merchant Bank Limited against Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries over its alleged failure to pay a loan of N6,205575,569.93 granted the firm.

The bank asked the court for an order appointing the deputy chief registrar of the Federal High Court, Lagos, as provisional liquidator of the Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries to take over and oversee the affairs and continuous running of the company pending the grant of the winding-up order.

In a motion on notice filed by counsel to the petitioner, Oluwakemi Balogun (SAN), the lawyer stated that the bank had issued the respondent the statutory three weeks demand notice required by Section 572 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

Balogun said the three weeks’ demand notice had since elapsed. Yet, the respondent has neglected to pay or to secure or compound for the same to the reasonable satisfaction of the petitioner.

He claimed that the respondent is unable to liquidate its indebtedness by Section 574(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), Section 6(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, Rule 183 of the Companies Winding-up Rules, 2001, and by JB Order 30 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019.

The lawyer argued that substantially the whole of the respondent’s assets are personal and are liable to be dissipated, removed, destroyed, and or otherwise evaporated by the alter egos of the respondent unless a restraining order is granted to prevent the rest from dissipating.

Listed as respondents in the suit are Central Securities Clearing System Plc, Access Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Citi Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, and First Bank of Nigeria Limited, among others.