A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday will on April 22, 2022 render judgment in a suit seeking to wind-up Primero Transport Service Ltd, for an alleged N63,466,000 debt. Justice Ambrose Lewis Allagoa fixed the date after parties through their counsel moved and adopted their processes.
The petitioner, Petrocam Trading Nigeria Limited in a suit marked FHC/L/CP/1702/20, filed through its counsel, Olatokunbo Davis, said the petition was pursuant to Order 19, Rule 1, of the Company Winding-Up Rules 2001. Specifically, it prayed the court for leave to advertise the winding up petition in the Gazette, Thisday Newspaper, Punch Newspaper or any other widely circulating newspaper.
Petrocam averred that its petition was sequel to Primero’s alleged failure to pay the N63.466million.
Petrocam backed its petition with a verifying affidavit deposed to by its Financial Manager, Taiwo Abiodun, which stated that sometime between the months of January, 2019 and January, 2020, upon Primero’s request, the Petitioner made a supply of automated gas oil, lubricant oil and gear oil worth the sum of N174,046million on credit on the agreement that the Respondent would pay N10 million as advance payment before the delivery and balance payment 30 days after invoice date.
He stated that Petrocam supplied the products as agreed however, contrary to the agreement of the parties, Primero failed to make payment to the Petitioner, despite several letters were written to Primero to liquidate its outstanding indebtedness. It claimed that upon receipt of the letters, the respondent only paid a paltry sum of N1,866million, N28,114million and N20million, leaving the sum of N63,466 million, as outstanding.
The petitioner, he said, instituted Suit FHC/L/CP/1239/20 against the respondent but same was discontinued following a promise by the Respondent to pay the total outstanding sum by November 6, 2020, but the Respondent failed to fulfil the promise, despite several and persistent demands by the Petitioner.
According to the deponent, the respondent had not denied its indebtedness to the Petitioner, but had become insolvent and therefore unable to pay its debt, because it is more than 21 days and the company had not made the payment as demanded in the petitioner’s several letters of demand.
But the BRT operator opposed the petition and prayed the court to dismiss the Winding-Up suit against it on the ground that the debt referred to by the Petitioner was non-existent.
Primero in its counter-affidavit deposed to by a legal practitioner, Mejulu Henry of Hawkes Legal, stated that the respondent was not indebted to the petitioner in the sum of N63, 466 million.
He averred that between January 20 and 22, 2021, the respondent had made further payments of the sum of N64 Million which was far in excess of the debt claimed by the petitioner.
The deponent while claiming that the debt referred to by the Petitioner was non-existent, stated that the respondent was not insolvent and was in a position to pay its debts.
Mejulu also claimed that the petitioner’s petition was mainly to paralyze the respondent’s businesses and severely injure its reputation and corporate image.