A federal high court in Abuja has temporarily restrained the house of representatives committee on capital market and institutions from summoning the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and 17 insurance companies in over its investigation into alleged N98.4 billion liabilities.
In a ruling on Monday, Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, granted
the interim order, holding that the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the
insurance companies “stand the risk of being arrested” while the substantive
case is pending.
BACKGROUND
In July, the house sub-committee on capital market, chaired
by Kwamoti Laori, commenced an investigation into about 25 insurance companies
over alleged financial infractions.
Laori said the probe followed a petition accusing the
insurers of causing significant revenue losses to the federal government.
The committee invited the companies to either confirm or
refute the allegations. In response, the NIA and 17 insurers filed a motion ex
parte before the court seeking to halt the probe.
Nwite initially declined the application, directing the
insurers to put the respondents on notice.
The plaintiffs later filed a motion on notice, listing the
speaker of the house, the committee, Laori, and Bob Solomon as defendants.
PLAINTIFFS’ ARGUMENT
Taiwo Osipitan, counsel to the insurers, argued that the NIA
represents the 17 companies, all of which are non-government-funded and
regulated by agencies in the executive arm — the National Insurance Commission
(NIC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and Federal Inland Revenue Service
(FIRS)— not the house of representatives.
Osipitan said his clients were aggrieved by a July 3, 2025,
summons directing them to submit operational documents to establish alleged
indebtedness to the federal government.
He argued that the court had jurisdiction to intervene,
noting that “the balance of convenience” favoured protecting the companies from
unconstitutional legislative oversight.
In an affidavit, Akioya Victoria, NIA manager, stated that
the “objective of these letters of invitation/summons… is to recover N98.4
billion from the 2nd to 18th Plaintiffs/Applicants, being… liabilities to the
Federal Government of Nigeria.”
The insurers asked the court to restrain the lawmakers from
enforcing the summons or compelling their CEOs to appear before the committee
until the substantive case is heard.
COURT’S DECISION
Nwite noted that none of the respondents filed a reply to
the motion on notice and ruled that failure to respond after being served
deprived them of grounds to claim a breach of fair hearing.
He added that the NIA and its members sought to protect
themselves from “unconstitutional invitations/summons” by lawmakers they insist
lack supervisory powers over them.
“In view of the foregoing, I am of the view, and I so hold,
that the plaintiffs/applicants (insurers) have a right deserving of protection
through the grant of an injunction,” the judge ruled.
He further ruled that there were serious triable issues,
including whether lawmakers have the constitutional authority to summon the
insurers’ CEOs or demand financial documents to verify alleged debts.
On the balance of convenience, Nwite found that the insurers
and their executives “stand the risk of being sanctioned/arrested by the
Defendants,” which could disrupt their business operations. By contrast,
lawmakers would lose nothing if restrained pending the court’s determination.
He also noted that the plaintiffs had undertaken to pay
damages if it turned out the injunction should not have been granted.
Consequently, the court barred the committee from compelling
appearances of the insurers’ executives or pursuing the probe until the case is
resolved.
The matter was adjourned to September 9 for the hearing of
the substantive suit.
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