OSEJI JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): This appeal is against the ruling of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, delivered by B.F.M. Nyako on 16 March 2010, wherein the respondent’s preliminary objection against the petition for winding-up filed at the instance of the appellant was upheld on the ground that the respondent disputed the debt owed to the appellant.
The facts of the case in a nutshell is that, sometime in the year 2004, the respondent herein applied for and was granted a credit facility by the appellant in the sum of N350,000,000 (three hundred and fifty million naira) for the development of 240 housing units comprising of 902 bedrooms and 150 single bedroom apartments at Lokogoma district, Phase III along Ring Road 2, F.C.T, Abuja. The facility was secured with the donation of a power of attorney by the respondent to the appellant. It was also in addition secured by the personal guarantees of the respondent’s chairman and an authority for the appellant to sell the…