This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division delivered on 30th March, 2016 in Appeal No CA/L/1247/2015 wherein the Court below set aside the Ruling of the Learned Trial judge of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos which refused to set aside ex-parte orders made against the Respondent herein.

A brief fact of the case giving birth to this appeal may be stated thus:

The Appellant herein, as plaintiff at the trial Federal High Court filed a petition on the 9th of November 2015 and sought the following reliefs against the Respondent (as defendant):

"WHEREOF your petitioner therefore humbly prays as follows:

Contemporaneous with the said petition, the Appellant filed a motion ex-parte on the same 9th November 2015 seeking five orders against the Respondent and other parties. In a nutshell, the Appellant's case was that the Oceanic Bank Plc (which it now has acquired with all its liabilities, rights and obligations) entered into import finance facility/Revolving Product finance Facility and Overdraft facility agreement with the Respondent.

Sequel to the said acquisition, it embarked on a process of recovery of the huge sums of monies said to be owed by the Respondent as a result of the credit facilities. Sometimes in July, 2013, the Respondent, through the Chairman of Honeywell Group Limited, Oba Otudeko, proposed the payment of the sum of N3.5 Billion out of the N5.5 Billion owed by the Respondent and other sister companies under the Honeywell Group Limited.

The proposal by the Chairman of the Group to pay the sum of N3.5 Billion was accepted by the Appellant on certain conditions, part of which was the payment of the sum of N500 million immediately and the balance before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) examiners left the bank on inspection as was clearly stated in the letters exchanged by the parties on the 22nd July, 2013 which is based on the in principle agreement." The Respondent was fully aware that the Central Bank of Nigeria examiners would leave the bank by the end of August, 2013 and on the basis of which the concession to pay the sum of N3.5 Billion was made by the Appellant in order to balance its acquired accounts.

The Respondent subsequently defaulted in the bullet and staggered repayment of the indebtedness as suggested by Oba Otudeko, the Chairman of Honeywell Group Limited on behalf of the defaulting Respondent and other sister companies. This led to a series of correspondences and proposals by the Respondent urging the Appellant to accept the said sum of N3.5 Billion as full payment to settle the indebtedness and which proposal was not agreeable to the Appellant given the failure of the Respondent to honour the "in principle agreement "

The intervention of the Bankers Committee and the sub-Committee on Ethics and Professionalism did not yield positive results and the Respondent took the option to institute an action in the Federal High Court, Lagos Division in suit No. FHC/L/CS/1219/2015.

The said suit was filed on 6th August 2015 wherein the Respondent sought inter alia, specific performance of the "in principle agreement' of 22nd July, 2015. During the proceedings of the Court presided over by M. B, Idris, J., the learned Trial Judge made an order for the parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.

The Appellant felt that it has been exposed to scrutiny by the Central Bank of Nigeria and other statutory bodies and consequently, filed a petition for winding up of the Respondent on 16th October, 2015 followed with applications for interim/interlocutory reliefs seeking to preserve the assets and funds of the Respondent pending the appointment of a provisional liquidator and the hearing of the petition before the Lower Court.

The Appellant's petition for winding-up filed on 16th October, 2015 was assigned to J. T. Tsosho, J. who heard the ex-parte application for interim reliefs towards preserving the assets/funds of the Respondent and declined to grant the same but directed that the Respondent put the Appellant on notice and the suit adjourned. The Appellant thereafter filed a notice of discontinuance of the said petition in suit No FHC/L/CP/1569/2015.

On 9th November, 2015, the Appellant filed a fresh petition for winding-up against the Respondent vide suit No.FHC/L/CP/1689/2015 and contemporaneously with same, it filed another motion ex-parte seeking an interim order for the preservation of the Assets/funds of the Respondent. The suit was assigned to M. N. Yunusa, J., who entertained the motion ex-parte on 18th November, 2015 and granted same.

Upon being notified of the grant of the ex-parte orders in suit No.FHC/L/CS/1689/2015, the Respondent filed a motion on notice on 24th November, 2015 seeking the order of the said Court to discharge the ex- parte orders so granted and dismiss the petition before it on ground of abuse of Court process amongst others.

The Appellant herein filed a counter affidavit to oppose the said motion and also filed a motion on notice seeking the order of Court to dismiss the said motion on notice for being an abuse of process.

The two applications were then taken together and in a Ruling delivered by Yunusa, J., on 4th December, 2015, the Court declined to vacate or discharge all the interim orders made but rather varied them by allowing the Respondent access to withdraw the sum of N15million per week for the running/overhead expenses and also suspended the order for advertisement of the petition for winding-up. The trial Court also refused to grant the appellants application to dismiss the Respondent's motion.

The Respondent was dissatisfied with the said Ruling of 4th December, 2015 and consequently filed a Notice of Appeal with 9 grounds of appeal on 14th December, 2015, The Appellant herein also filed Notice of Cross appeal. The Appellant also filed Notice of preliminary objection to the hearing of the Appeal. Briefs were filed and exchanged by the parties.