THE Court of Appeal, Lagos division has reserved judgment on the appeal filed by Nosptco Oil and Gas Limited (Wonder Bank) through its counsel, Mr. Shamsudeen Abubakar of Ricky Tarfa Chambers challenging the ruling of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) delivered on April 13, 2011 dismissing the companies objection challenging the jurisdiction of IST to hear the suit filed by 14 representatives of Nospetco investors forum against the company, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over frozen investment funds.The appellate court presided over by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju reserved judgment on the matter following the submission of counsel to Nosptco investor's forum, Mr. Debo Adeleke who told the court that he was prepared for the case and prayed the court to hear the matter expeditiously even though it was the first day it appeared before the justices.He said: 'We want you to hear us today. It has been four agonising and traumatic years that the respondents/applicants (investors) has been suffering. We have over 13, 618 applicants crying for justice over this matter. These are elderly people who have served this country diligently in various sectors and are now retirees. We are ready for the appeal and urge the court to hear us expeditiously.'Responding to the prayers of Abubakar, urging the court to set aside the ruling of the lower court, Adeleke said: 'in response to the applicants brief dated June 7, 2011, we filed a reply dated August 2, 2011 and file it the same day. We rely on our brief and adopt it. We respectfully urge your lordship's to dismiss this appeal with substantial cost.'He argued that the applicant's brief dated July 12, 2011 is defective and violates the rules of the court.He also urged the court to dismiss the CBN's brief submitted by its counsel, Ms. Loritta Onyenyionwu who caused a stir in the courtroom when she could not take a definite position as to whether to oppose the appeal or to support it. She prevaricated severally, looking confused as the justices reprimanded her and told her to make her position clear.When she finally pledged her support for the appeal, Adeleke described the brief as incompetent. His words: 'The 16th respondent's brief (CBN) is grossly and incurably incompetent, and we strongly oppose it because it violates order 9 rule 1 and 2 of the Appeal Court rules. If they want to support the appeal, they have to bring it as cross-appeal.'The counsel to SEC did not submit any brief and said that they were neutral.
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