Justice Dagat, Contending with Multiplicity of Suits in Ecobank/Honeywell Case

Justice Dagat of a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos must have been puzzled by the multiplicity of suits involving Ecobank and Honeywell. The Honourable Judge is still trying to contend with the lack of disclosure, leading to different pending matters instituted by Ecobank before different courts on the same cause of action.There were three suits pending before Justice Mohammed Yunusa before he was eventually transferred out of Lagos viz: FHC/L/CP/1689 between Ecobank V Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., FHC/L/CP/1570 between Ecobank V. Anchorage Leisures Limited and FHC/L/CP/1571 between Ecobank V Honeywell Group Limited.The third matter above, involving Honeywell Group Limited came up on Friday January 22, 2016 before Honourable Justice Dagat who is the new presiding judge in the matter.When the matter was called, counsel to Honeywell Group Limited, Bode Olanipekun, informed the court that argument on the application to discharge the exparte order, granted by Justice Yunusa on October 27, 2015, freezing the account of Honeywell Group Limited had already been concluded.In view of the fact that the order has expired by effluxion of time, Olanipekun asked the court to formally discharge the exparte Order in line with Order 26, Rule 12 of the Federal High Court Rules.Counsel to Ecobank, Kunle Ogunba asked the court to technically apply the ruling in the suit involving Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. which is different from this present suit. He informed the court that he had an agreement with the lead counsel to Honeywell that the ruling of December 4, 2015 in the suit involving Ecobank V. Honeywell Plc. will be applied to all the other suits before the court.Justice Dagat dismissed Ogunba’s argument and stated that the matters have not been consolidated, therefore the ruling in the Honeywell Flour Mills Plc matter cannot automatically be applied in the other suits.Olanipekun had stated that there was no agreement with Ogunba to do anything against the rules of procedure of the Federal High Court. He also informed the court of what he termed Ogunba’s forum-shopping exercise and stated that Ogunba failed to abide by the rulings of Justice Tsoho and Justice Idris directing Ecobank to give notice to respondents and directing the parties to maintain status quo ante bellum, respectively.After hearing argument of both parties, Justice Dagat who saw the need to exercise caution ruled that in view of the conflicting submissions by counsel, all suits relating to this matter are hereby adjourned to 18th February, 2016 for all learned counsels to argue on all pending applications.It is important to state, that Federal High Court Justices that are inheriting suits that were pending before their predecessors may become very cautious in presiding over these suits, in view of the fact that the information system of the Federal High Court is not sophisticated enough for a judge to be aware of similar pending matters, save for the information from counsels.There is a need for the Federal High Court and all courts in Nigeria to deploy an information system that would enable judges to be aware of similar matters in the same or different court, for effective and timely adjudication on matters.