BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State has ordered that the bank account number of a Chinese construction company, CGC Nigeria Limited, should be frozen over alleged breach of contract.
The construction company was said to have been linked with the Ebonyi State Government in 2015 by an Abuja based businessman, Chukwudi Nwobodo, with a written agreement to remit five per cent of proceeds from any contract awarded to it by the state government to him (Nwobodo).
After signing the said agreement papers prepared by the management of the Chinese company, Nwobodo was said to have used his connections to secure construction works for the company in the state, without the company keeping to the terms of agreement with him.
Nwobodo consequently dragged the firm to court.
It was gathered that all efforts made by the court bailiffs to serve the company the court processes were unsuccessful as the staff refused to receive them with the company’s lawyer failing to appear for defence.
Consequently, Justice Chinyere Ken-Ezeh ordered the freezing of the company’s Zenith Bank account for failing to remit the agreed 5 percent of all the contracts awarded to it since 2015. The naira equivalent of the money is said to be N688, 016, 371, 35.
The Point learnt that following the court judgement, the company, on April 25, 2022, filed a stay of execution suit.
In an interview, the plaintiff and his counsel, Ferdinard Onele, claimed that the firm had cheated.
Nwobodo said, “I thank the court for a favourable judgement. I never expected that these Chinese people would ever behave towards me as they had done. When they needed my connection, they were so humane and were even the ones that prepared the agreement papers and pleaded with me to sign which I did without doubt.
“During the court processes, they refused to receive the service and also denied having office at the Abakaliki Democracy Estate where all their vehicles are parked and where all their staff report for work every day, thereby making me a liar. This is just a practical example of why people no longer care to assist others.”
