A businessman in Imo State, Mr Kingsley Unegbu, has written a petition to the Chief Judge of Imo State, Justice Ijeoma Agugua, over the delay in his case against First City Monument Bank (FCMB) which has dragged on for seven years.
Unegbu dragged the First City Monument Bank to court in 2013 after a mistake by the bank on his Mastercard, which caused him to lose his business.
He said the court had on countless occasions adjourned the case, while three judges had presided over the case.
In the petition, Unegbu told the judge how a mistake by the bank led not only to the closure of his business but also impoverishing him after he went bankrupt.
He said the bank had been continuously seeking an adjournment to frustrate the judicial process and to also abruptly end the case.
His petition reads: “In 2013, I approached the Imo State High Court Owerri to seek redress in a case of gross negligence wherein First City Monument Bank Ltd erroneously issued me a USD MasterCard with another person’s photograph for security identification.
“But the bank, in paragraph 12 of their statement of defence, said they owed me no duty of care in the production of such Bank security materials.
“This resulted in a permanent disconnection of our service by Vonage Unlimited USA and consequently caused the collapse of my company.
“As a result of this, I approached the High Court Owerri in 2013 through my lawyer, A.O Njoku Esq., to seek redress, but unfortunately since 2013 till date, my case has never been tried.
“The bank, through their lawyer C.N Okafor Esq., has been using the court to ask for endless adjournments as a way of preventing the case from being tried and as well to frustrate me, to see if I will die and the case will be struck out.”
“I have lost everything I laboured for in life. My company has been closed for 10 years now. My wife has left me due to persistent suffering, and my children are out of school and hawking sachet water in motor parks to earn a living.
“My life has become so worthless in the society that if my complaint is not addressed at this time, I will be forced to commit suicide because I am seriously devastated.
“I hereby use this medium to call for your intervention to investigate why this case, which has only one witness from either party, has not been tried for the past 7 years and consequently order for an expedited trial and judgment.”
