The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has adjourned till June 15 a motion seeking to advertise the winding up of an oil firm, Eroton Exploration & Production Company Limited for its alleged inability to pay Brightwaters Energy Limited a consent judgment debt of $ 20 million
Justice Akintayo Aluko fixed the date following an application by the petitioner, Brightwaters Energy Limited, through its counsel, Mr. Olumide Aju (SAN), who informed the court that the application was ripe for hearing.
The grounds for the relief include that “the respondent is insolvent, has insufficient assets to meet its liabilities and has failed to liquidate indebtedness to the petitioner which arose out of an admitted judgment debt which Eroton consented to through a Terms of Settlement and which they have refused to pay more than 1 year after the judgment was entered into by court.
The 21 days statutory demand notice within the meaning of Section 572 (1) of Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 has since been issued to the respondent and the same has elapsed.
Countering the preliminary objection, Brightwaters’ counsel argued that there was no provision of the winding up proceedings rules that robbed the court of its jurisdiction to hear the petition simply because an affidavit was filed alongside the petition, more so when the debt owed was not disputed and when the company was currently insolvent.
