Court discharges interim order on suspension of Alliance & General Insurance

Court discharges interim order on suspension of Alliance & General Insurance

Chuks Udo Okonta

The Interim Order of injunction made in favour of Alliance & General Insurance (A&G) Plc, A&G Life and Fidelity Bond was today discharged on the strength of an oral application made by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) counsel, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN.

In discharging the interim order, Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Lagos, held that the interim injunction granted in favour of the companies on August 14, 2012 was without jurisdiction.   Consequently, the interim order of injunction was discharged by the Court.

The court had last week, among others, granted an interim order restraining the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her ministry from either approving the removal of directors and management of Alliance & General Insurance or ratifying the appointment of new directors and management to assume control over the company.

The court also restrained the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) from proceeding with planned sack of the current management of the insurance company. It went beyond that to also restrained NAICOM from implementing a directive suspending the insurance company from transacting new businesses in Nigeria for the next six months with effect from August 6, 2012.

Justice Ajoku went further to order NAICOM to remove forthwith from its website, information regarding the suspension of the companies from transacting insurance business in Nigeria for the next six months, as well as further publishing same in the national newspapers.

The orders were to remain in force pending the determination of a motion on notice filed by the companies against the NAICOM, including Ministry of Finance, Minister of Finance and the Attorney General of the Federation, Bello Adoke (SAN).

However, in the course of proceedings today, counsel to the Commission, Prof. Osipitan, called the court’s attention to the facts that the motion ex-parte filed by the companies which resulted in the interim injunction was not accompanied by a written address as required by Order 26 Rule 3 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009.

Furthermore, the summon ex-parte filed by the companies in support of the application for leave to be heard during vacation, was also not signed. The written address in support of the said summons was also not signed.

The companies had gone to court following the six months suspension slammed on them by NAICOM for various infractions ranging from non-rendition of accounts; misrepresentation and non-disclosure of liabilities; non-remittance of premiums and commissions, and corporate governance abuses.

The suspension is to remain in force until such a period when the Commission is satisfied that: The violation of the provisions of the National Insurance Commission Act 1997 and the Insurance Act 2003 has been addressed, and the method of transacting business is no longer hazardous to the policyholders and potential clients.

No date has been fixed for the motion for interlocutory injunction in view of the on-going court vacation in the Federal High Court.