The executive chairman of the Maize Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MAGPAMAN), Ebonyi State chapter, Mr Ebere Oji Odii, and Ecobank Nigeria Limited have appealed the verdict of the Ebonyi State High Court, sitting in Abakaliki, on the Federal Government Anchor Borrowers’ scheme debacle in the state.

The appellants in the appeal filed at the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal are seeking the setting aside of the lower court’s judgment granting one Nzubechi Okoro’s claims in its entirety on the ground that the verdict is against the weight of evidence.

An Ebonyi State High Court, sitting in Abakaliki, had ordered the executive chairman of MAGPAMAN Ebonyi State office and EcoBank to pay N10 million damages in favour of Okoro for fraudulently using his bank details to obtain a loan facility without his consent.

Okoro, a Delta State-based businessman from Ebonyi State, had dragged Eco Bank (first defendant), Odii (second defendant), Nwabueze (third defendant) and MAGPAMAN (fourth defendant) to court after his Bank Verification Number (BVN) was blacklisted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over a loan that he purportedly took from the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme of the Federal Government.

The trial judge, Justice Chris Eze, declared that the defendants should jointly and severally pay the plaintiff the sum of N10 million only as general damages for the financial loss, embarrassment, emotional and psychological trauma and pain suffered by the plaintiff, following the blacklisting of his (the plaintiff’s) BVN by the CBN as a result of the unlawful and fraudulent use of his bank details and BVN by the second to fourth defendants to obtain a loan facility from the 1st defendant and connivance of all the defendants to carry out their unlawful acts.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, Ecobank and Odii approached the court of appeal, challenging Justice Eze’s decision.

Ecobank argued that the trial court was in error when it failed to properly evaluate the evidence before it in order to reach a just and conclusive decision, thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.

The bank further argued that the lower court failed to consider and evaluate the appellant’s evidence that the Central Bank of Nigeria gave the list and directed the appellant to open an account under the Anchor Borrowers’ programme.

Also, Odii, in his appeal through his counsel, J.N. Unah, argued that the court below erred in law when it denied the second defendant a fair hearing by not allowing him to file a reply on the point of law. Consequently, the trial judge did not refer to any reply on a point of law.

Odii explained that he was not the person who registered Mr Okoro as a member of MAGPAMAN and not the person to whom Okoro supplied his BVN and personal information. He only inherited the list of members approved for participation in the 2020 Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, in which Okoro’s name was listed.

“I have been a businessman with a special focus on agriculture. I have never cheated anyone and will never cheat anyone,” Odii stated.