N120m judgement: BUA subsidiaries battle over ownership of 6 trucks

Threatened by a N120 million court judgement awarded to accident victims, three subsidiaries of BUA Group have been engaged in a battle over the ownership and auctioning of the six affected trucks in Kogi State.

While BUA Transport claimed all the six trucks belong to it, BUA Foods Plc claimed two of them belong to it, just as BUA Cement Plc also claimed four of the trucks seized by the Kogi State High Court in execution of the judgement delivered in September 2022.

Justice A.N. Awulu of High Court sitting in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on July 28, 2022, delivered a judgement against BUA Transport and one Aliyu Usmam, in favour of four dead accident victims.

The deceased were Awuji Uzor, Stanley Ejeoma, Chima Ergemasi, and Chima Emeka, all represented by Kingsley Obi and Chima Kenneth as plaintiffs in the matter instituted on September 25, 2020.

According to NAN, the four victims were among the 12 persons that died in the accident which occurred on May 25, 2016, caused by the 2nd defendant, Aliyu Usman, the driver of BUA Transport with Registration Number Lagos KJA 403 XP Howo Sino Truck.

The said driver was said to have driven in a dangerous and reckless manner at a high speed without regard to other road users, and without due care and attention, left his lane and negligently collided with a Young Shall Grow Transport Toyota Hiace bus with Registration No. Lagos LSD 02 XP.

The bus caught fire and burnt the 12 passengers, including Egemasi, Emeka, Uzor and Ijeoma, resulting in their deaths.

Obi and Kenneth later approached the High Court through their counsel, Uche Enwerem, and got a judgement award for N120 million, which the company failed to pay the victims.

Irked by the non-response of the BUA Transport or BUA Group in paying the judgement award sum, the court ordered the seizure of any property of BUA Group that could be auctioned to get the N120 million for the victims.

The led to the seizure of six trucks of the BUA Group in September 2022 which were kept in the High Court premises for auctioning.

It was at that point that the three subsidiaries of BUA Group sent their lawyers to stop the sale of the trucks.

When the case came up for hearing before justice A.N. Awulu, the three subsidiaries through their separate counsels filed motions and affidavits claiming the ownership of the trucks to the amazement of the judgement creditors and the court.

BUA Transport limited in its motion and affidavit dated November 30, 2022, deposed to by Owaifo Ogedengbe, exclusively claimed that the whole six trucks belong to it and prayed the court to set aside the writ of attachment and release them to it.

The company claimed that the writ of attachment allegedly sent to it by courier did not get to it as expected, so they were not aware of any such attachment.

BUA Foods on the other hand claimed in a separate motion and affidavit that two out of the six trucks belong to it and should be released to it since it has nothing to do with the case against BUA Transport.

Prof. Oladayo Amokaye, SAN, who stood as counsel for BUA Foods Plc, and demanded the immediate release of the two HOWO Trucks DEG 652XA and NEM 197 XA registration numbers containing 900 bags of flour and 900 bags of Sugar, is also the counsel for BUA Cement.

Also on behalf of BUA cement, Amokaye, raised an objection to the purported seizure and planned auctioning of the trucks by the court on the ground that it has nothing to do with the accident that caused the death of the 12 persons on May 25, 2016.

But Enwerem, the counsel for the victims, raised preliminary objections to all their claims with counter motions and affidavits, which questioned why the fight over the ownership of the six trucks already seized for auctioning to recoup the N120 million judgement award to the victims.

He prayed the court to dismiss their claims and applications as “it’s their continued refusal to pay the judgment sum of N120 million in this case that led to the seizure of the trucks inclusive of the goods in them.”

Justice Awulu, after hearing the submissions made by the judgement debtors and the creditor, adjourned the case to May 4, 2023, for definite hearing.

The Star

Segun Ojo