Lagos — Two Federal High Courts at the weekend granted leave to shareholders of Afribank Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc respectively to sue the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi in the names and on behalf of the banks.

The orders of the courts are sequel to applications filed by the shareholders of the two banks, challenging the propriety of the order of the apex bank taking over their banks.

While Afribank shareholders in a suit before Justice Ibrahim Auta are claiming N500 billion as general and aggravated damages, Union Bank shareholders are also claiming N500 billion as damages against the defendants in a suit before Justice Mohammed Liman.

Sanusi, it would be recalled, had on August 14, removed the Managing Directors and Executive Directors of five banks in the country for allegedly acting in manners inconsistent with depositors funds and abuse of office. He also replaced them with a management teams.

The apex bank governor had claimed that the action was informed by the report of a special examination conducted into the books and affairs of the banks by a joint team of the CBN and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), which revealed that the banks (including Afribank and Union) were in "grave danger."

However, the shareholders in the two separate suits filed by Barrister Onyebuchi Aniakor, alleged that due process was not followed in the entire process culminating into the take-over of their banks as neither the apex bank nor its governor made the report available to the banks for the purpose of responding to it.

The shareholders also faulted the decision of the apex bank governor to appoint directors for their banks without any reference to them and the subsequent injection of funds into their banks.

They alleged that Sanusi, in a bid to auction their banks, had since commenced road shows around several countries in the world.

The shareholders are therefore, seeking a declaration to the extent that the said special examination were claimed to have been conducted over and in respect of all the 24 banks in the country and in at least three of the banks, the Executive Management and shareholders were allowed to have the benefit of considering and taking steps on the recommendations contained in the said reports; and, in the particular case of Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), the shareholders were allowed to inject the requested additional capital whilst denying the same treatment to other banks, constitutes unfair and discriminatory treatment under Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.

They want the court to declare that the entirety of the circumstances surrounding the actions and steps taken by Sanusi in interfering in the business, operations and affairs of their banks are illegal, wrongful and void, same having been done in bad faith and in the absence of compliance with due process requirements of the 1999 Constitution.

They also want the court to declare that the injection of funds into their banks are lacking in good faith, highly reckless and injurious to the utmost prejudice of their banks and the members, and same ought to be set aside in their entirety.

The shareholders further want a perpetual injunction restraining Sanusi and the CBN whether by themselves or their privies or agents from any further interference and or continuing to interfere in the affairs, business and operations of their banks without full and necessary compliance with due process requirements and extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While the case Afribank has been adjourned till December 16 for hearing, that of Union Bank shareholders has been fixed for December 17.