HONEYWELL vs KUNLE OGUNBA – NBA’S TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS QUESTIONED

VS

The battle between Honeywell and Ecobank still rages on. While the 2 brands are in court on the matter over a business relationship gone sour, another dimension came up in the case, which led to another battle on the side which is also going on simultaneously, as the main battle is also ongoing. That battle is what brought about the title of this particular write-up above.

Mr. Kunle Ogunba, until not too long ago an S.A.N (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) a very privileged title given to lawyers who have excelled greatly in their profession and have gotten to the pinnacle and are supposed to be exemplary, is the very influential counsel for the other party, that is Ecobank and in the course of fighting on behalf of his client, some rather very unfortunate things came up, which led to petitions filed by the Honeywell Group at both the LPPC (Legal Practitioners Privileges Council and the NBA seeking some sort of redresses for some professional conducts that are thought not to be as exemplary as expected from someone as learned as Mr. Ogunba.

While the LPPC gave its own response not too long after, to the petition instituted by the Honeywell group, by withdrawing the highly revered title of 'SAN' given Mr. Ogunba, an unprecedented decision at that, nothing in the past close to 2 years, has been heard "officially" from the NBA the other body so petitioned, which is the umbrella body for all legal practitioners in Nigeria, who are also the statutory body that normally should seek to regulate the activities and excesses of all legal practitioners (lawyers) in Nigeria, if the need arises at anytime.

NBA and Self-Regulation.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is one of the leading professional bodies in Nigeria. As the umbrella association of lawyers, the NBA is also a major stakeholder in the Nigerian judicial system. But more importantly, NBA, similar to leading professional bodies in the world, harbours a self-regulatory mechanism to promote ethics among practitioners.
According to the sixth core objective of the association, the body is responsible for: “Maintenance of the highest standards of professional conduct, etiquette and discipline among lawyers”. One will even be justified to conclude that the NBA is very particular about standards and integrity as it is clearly stated on its website that: “The NBA offers a unique National platform that is not available to any other Civil or professional organization in Nigeria.”
However, a recent development is threathening the NBA’s famed strict adherence to high standards. At least, this is the direction that the unfolding drama of the reported clearance of Lagos lawyer, Mr. Kunle Ogunba by the NBA seems to be taking.

MORE AFTER THE BREAK!

ECOBANK VS HONEYWELL. THE REAL FACTS OF THE MATTER. WHAT DOES A BANK THAT HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL STILL WANT?

Obafoluke Otudeko

There's been plenty of sensationalism concerning this case between the 2 institutions mentioned above that is- Honeywell vs ECOBANK, without people knowing the whole truth of the matter as it were. And because one of the sides was making so much noise and the other was quiet as a matter of in house policy, it was like the other side was guilty for being quiet!

Just because one of the parties had adopted to be quiet and allow the matter take the proper course (follow the proper laid down law procedures for solving matters/issues), without making noise doesn't make them guilty or that they didn't know what to do too.

So what we have done here, is to bring out the the facts of the matter as it were and all that was done before things went askance and got to where it is now.

The summary of the fact is that, Honeywell Group as a business entity and in the individual capacities of those that own the brand and subsidiaries, does not owe ECOBANK a dime, Kobo in any form at all. And that's because all that was owed the bank in any form, totalling ₦3.5 billion Naira after the agreement made with the bank's authorities with evidence was paid. That is, liquidated and settled and therefore, Honeywell Group meaning with all the subsidiaries owes ECOBANK no money, no amount whatsoever.

Honeywell Group commenced discussions with Ecobank in May 2012, with a view to agree a full and final settlement of the indebtedness of three of its operating companies (including HFMP) to Ecobank. All three facilities were originally consummated with the then Oceanic Bank Plc.

Several meetings were held between the parties with a view to achieving a settlement of Honeywell’s indebtedness to the Bank. A settlement was finally reached at the meeting of the 22nd July, 2013 involving the Chairman, Dr. Oba Otudeko CFR, and Ecobank’s Managing Director, Mr. Jibril Aku to the effect that Honeywell should pay the sum of N3.5 billion in full and final settlement of its indebtedness to the Bank

Following the meeting, Honeywell immediately paid the sum of N500 million and wrote to the Bank confirming the terms of the agreement. The Bank responded via its letter dated 22nd July, 2013 confirming the payment agreement, and stating that the balance of N3 billion should be paid before the exit of CBN examiners from the Bank.

Although the Bank stated that the balance be paid before the exit of the CBN examiners, no specific dates were mentioned and Honeywell was not informed of the date of the eventual exit of the CBN examiners even though they kept engaging the Bank in discussions.

After several attempts by Honeywell to discuss the payment of the balance, the Parties held a meeting on the 12th of December, 2013 at Honeywell’s offices involving their Chairman, Dr. Oba Otudeko CFR, the Bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Jibril Aku, the Bank’s Company Secretary, Mrs. Denike Laoye and other senior executives of both organizations. At this meeting, the payment agreement was reiterated by the Parties. There was no mention that the settlement amount had changed or that the agreement had lapsed. The said Bank executives who were in attendance have the authority to bind the Bank statutorily.

Following the 12th of December 2013 meeting, Honeywell completed the payment of the agreed N3.5 billion on the 9th of January, 2014. Honeywell thereafter wrote to Ecobank referring to the meeting of
December 12, 2013 and the agreement reached while also confirming that the payments had been completed as agreed. Honeywell also requested for: (1) a letter of discharge, (2) the release of the securities held against the facilities and (3) an update of the Group’s accounts on the CBN CRMS portal.

More after the break.