By Victor Ogiemwonyi
marketconversations.substack.com
For many years, we have witnessed the widespread misuse of ex parte orders by certain judges in Nigerian courts. This trend has resulted in enormous damage to private businesses, carrying severe implications for the wider economy.
Despite several landmark rulings by the Supreme Court limiting the application of ex parte orders, many of our courts continue to issue them recklessly, showing little or no regard for the catastrophic consequences that follow.
A “Judicial Tragedy” and Economic Warfare
The Supreme Court recently addressed this issue in its ruling on the Nestoil/Neconde case, where it condemned the misuse of ex parte orders in the strongest possible terms.
The apex court rightly labeled the practice a “judicial tragedy,” stating that ex parte orders were being weaponized as tools for economic warfare. The justices emphasized that interim remedies cannot be used to achieve permanent outcomes
They averred that: “You cannot destroy a business first, and ask questions later.”
This is a highly consequential ruling that demands urgent public attention. A staggering number of legitimate businesses have been completely destroyed by adversaries seeking justice in an underhanded manner. In most of these cases, the process results in a pure miscarriage of justice.
The Original Intent vs. The Nigerian Reality
The original legal intention of an ex parte order was to ensure the preservation of the status quo while keeping the res (the subject matter of the dispute) intact until a Motion on Notice could be properly heard. By design, these orders are strictly temporary. Under standard court rules, their lifespan is typically limited to just two weeks. They were never meant to determine substantive rights, but rather to serve as a legal bridge before a full hearing takes place, forcing the applicant to quickly serve the other party to appear in court.
Unfortunately, that is not the reality in Nigeria today. The rampant nature with which these orders are churned out by our courts, and the enormous economic carnage they leave in their wake, is a clear cause for alarm.
A Case Study in Corporate Destruction
I am personally aware of a case where a destructive ex parte order was used to cripple and force out of business, a reputable company that had served thousands of customers and operated successfully for 25 years.
The issue began as a commercial dispute over outstanding balances in a transaction that had been contracted and executed within a strictly regulated environment. Instead of standard litigation, the adversary managed to obtain two separate ex parte orders for the exact same transaction.
• The First Order: Obtained from a Federal High Court against three companies, immediately freezing their assets and bank accounts.
• The Second Order: Obtained from a Lagos State High Court against eight respondents, including three individuals (family members who had absolutely nothing to do with the transaction) and five other companies.
All of their assets and bank accounts were frozen as well.
The overreach was staggering. Both orders were issued against multiple entities within a holding company, even though only one specific subsidiary was involved in the transaction.
Worse still, while it took five long years for the Court of Appeal to throw out the first order for a total lack of merit, the adversary used the Lagos State High Court order to keep all assets and bank accounts frozen for nine years. Even though the substantive civil case is currently being heard, these supposedly “temporary” ex parte orders still subsist.
Liquidation by Stealth
Because these orders were allowed to drag on, they were manipulated to achieve permanent, devastating outcomes. The adversary used the order to appoint a provisional liquidator who, accompanied by police and hired thugs, forcefully took over the company’s four operational offices. They did not vacate the premises until the Court of Appeal finally threw out the first order.
The strategic intention was crystal clear: to kill the business and permanently remove them from the market. In the process, thousands of innocent customers had their accounts inadvertently closed and frozen for years. Employees had their careers destroyed.
When reasonably used, an ex parte order is simply an urgent invitation for the other party to come to court and explain their side of the story. It was never intended to ambush an opponent or obliterate their livelihood.
The Collapse of Judicial Safeguards
The law has established strict safeguards to prevent the abuse of ex parte applications. A judge must explicitly confirm:
1. An extreme urgency to the matter.
2. A strong prima facie case.
3. That the balance of convenience favours the applicant.
4. That the applicant will suffer irreparable loss without it.
5. A full and honest disclosure of facts by the applicant.
Regrettably, these foundational requirements are routinely ignored in many of the ex parte orders granted so frequently today. This represents a severe case of judicial overreach that results in gross injustice and a breach of constitutional fair-hearing rights.
Furthermore, even when an ex parte order is finally discharged, the offending party usually goes scot-free, despite having signed an initial undertaking to restitute the defendant for any unjust losses.
Our court system frequently ignores the timeless dictum that “justice delayed is justice denied.” Instead of dispensing swift justice, cases drag on for decades, making legal recourse feel like a monumental waste of time.
The Weaponization of Debt Collection
In a recent article analyzing banks and their fragile balance sheets, I questioned why going to court has become the premier choice for Nigerian banks looking to collect debts. Instead of pursuing proper debt restructuring and work out plans that grant a debtor-company a realistic opportunity to repay, many financial institutions prefer to weaponize ex parte orders. They use them to harass opponents, paralyze operations, and gain an unfair advantage in legal proceedings.
Compounding the problem, we now have a crop of lawyers who have made this predatory practice their professional specialty.
But the fundamental logic remains flawed: How does killing the very company you expect to pay you make any economic sense?
Ex parte orders are designed to be used in rare, and extraordinary cases. They should be temporary measures to prevent imminent and irreparable harm.
When systematically misused, they undermine public trust in fair hearings, sometimes used in aiding, to cripple private businesses and gradually transforms the judicial process into a weapon of oppression.
Courts were created to preserve equity and the rule of law. They should serve the interest of Justice and not to be used to destroy legitimate businesses.
The Supreme Court has taken the lead to restore sanity, other courts should follow their example.
Ogiemwonyi is a retired Investment Banker and writes from Ikoyi, Lagos.
