Dantata & Sawoe faces liquidation hearing over $1.2 million alleged debt

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed February 26, 2025, to hear a motion seeking the court’s appointment of a provisional liquidator for Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company Nigeria Limited over an alleged $1,257,592.83 debt owed to Zutari Consulting Nigeria Ltd.

The alleged debt is related to subcontract work on the Dangote Fertilizer Plant project in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.

Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date after Zutari’s lawyer, Chris Ekemezie, queried the absence of Dantata & Sawoe’s legal team from today’s proceedings.
Nairametrics previously reported that the court had, on October 28, 2024, given Dantata & Sawoe and Zutari Consulting a final adjournment to settle issues concerning the alleged $1,257,592.83 debt.

Justice Inyang Ekwo had fixed January 2025 as the last adjournment for a report on the settlement, months after he approved the placement of a winding-up petition advertisement against Dantata in a motion on notice filed by Zutari Consulting Nigeria Ltd (the petitioner) in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/PET/3/2023.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Chris Ekemezie, submitted that their client was engaged by the respondent in 2015 for design work related to the respondent’s subcontract at the Dangote Fertilizer Plant project in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.

He contended that after the petitioner completed its work, Dantata & Sawoe allegedly became indebted to it in the sum of $1,257,592.83, ZAR 2,136,623.39, and £4,364.38.

The petitioner stated that arbitration over the matter was held in London, United Kingdom, and a final arbitral award was made by the arbitration tribunal on April 7, 2021, finding that Dantata & Sawoe was liable to the applicant for the stated debts.

However, in a notice of preliminary objection filed on May 9, 2023, Dantata’s legal team had urged the court to strike out the petition.

Dantata & Sawoe’s legal team argued that the conditions under which the petitioner sought to wind up their client were completely lacking in merit.

In an affidavit deposed on May 9, 2023, Sherwin Cayabyab, an employee of the respondent, denied the indebtedness claimed by the petitioner.

He admitted that his company engaged the petitioner’s services for a subcontract at the Dangote Fertilizer Plant for the sum of N162,000,000.00, which had been paid.

However, he explained that the subcontract was varied, as agreed by the petitioner, the respondent, and Saipem (Dangote).

In a ruling in July 2024, Justice Inyang Ekwo stated that Dantata’s objection was made against the substantive matter and not against the petitioner’s motion on notice to advertise the petition.

The judge noted that, contrary to Dantata & Sawoe’s submission, the law allows a winding-up petition to proceed despite the pendency of other processes, as all that is required for the petition to succeed is that the respondent owes the petitioner a debt of N200,000 and above.

During one of the court sittings, Dantata’s lawyer, Uchenna Njoku (SAN), noted that following the court’s ruling, they had filed a notice of appeal and an application for a stay of proceedings.

source: nairametrics.com

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