Abuja – An FCT High Court order on Saturday prevented members of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) from holding their meeting scheduled to discuss various issues.
The members had converged at the chamber’s ground along Airport Road in Abuja to meet as earlier discussed to fashion out plans for their upcoming events.
But they were confronted by locked chamber gates and an order of the court issued by Justice Valentine Ashi on Thursday.
The court had issued the order in a suit brought before it by Skyway Technology and Services Ltd. and Mr Francis Anderson Okuonite, against ABUCCIMA and 16 others.
The suit had sought to restrain forthwith the defendants and their agents from convening a meeting of ABUCCIMA for any purpose pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The court granted the prayer and also asked that the Nigeria Police Force be served the court order, with the motion on notice fixed for hearing on Aug. 11.
This had thus led to the locking up of the chamber premises on Saturday morning, with the presence of members of the Nigeria Police very noticeable.
However, the members, after taking in the situation, decided on dispersing to await further developments on the matter at hand.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on behalf of the group of “concerned ABUCCIMA members’’, a co-opted Council member, Vincent Ighile, said they had to respect the court order.
“We came here to discuss many burning issues which can positively affect ABUCCIMA, but what we found was a surprise.
`However, we had no choice other than to shelve the idea of a meeting. We agreed to move on and await further developments.
“But we will now look into how to ensure this move by the other group does not negatively affect the chamber, because ABUCCIMA needs to move forward,’’ he said.
NAN reports that ABUCCIMA is a member-funded organisation solely representing the common interests of the business community and focused primarily on putting the interest of businesses in the FCT first.(NAN)
