An Owerri-based High Court sitting in Owerri yesterday restrained five commercial banks from tampering with the salaries, pensions and gratuities of Imo workers and retirees lodged in their vaults pending the determination of the substantial suit in the court.

The Court presided over by Justice M. E. Nwagboso, gave the restraining order to Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA, Union Bank and First Bank while ruling on an ex parte motion filed by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Imo State against the affected financial institutions. Accounts of the state government are domiciled in the five banks.

The court adjourned the case to June 12, 2022 for further hearing. Recall that the Zenith Bank’s branches in the state capital were closed last Thursday in compliance with the garnishee order of the court to pay a former deputy governor of the state, Eze Madumere, all his entitlements within the period he was purportedly impeached during the erstwhile administration of Rochas Okorocha.

Consequently, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, had issued a statement, urging the bank’s branches to open and grant access to its customers, saying the garnishee order was being challenged in an appeal instituted by the state government.