Section 436: Procedure on the execution of distress warrant

In the execution of a distress warrant the following provisions shall have effect:(a) a warrant of distress shall be executed by or under the direction of the sheriff;
(b) where the person charged with the execution of the warrant is prevented from executing the warrant by the fastening of doors or otherwise, the Magistrate may, by writing under his hand endorsed on the warrant, authorize him to use such force as may be necessary to enable him to execute the warrant;
(c) the wearing apparel and bedding of the person and of his family, and to the value of twenty thousand naira, the tools and implements of his trade, shall not be taken;
(d) except as provided in paragraph (e) of this subsection and so far as the person on whose movable property the distress is levied consents in writing to an earlier sale, the goods distrained on shall be sold at public auction not less than five days and not more than fourteen days after the making of the distress, but where consent in writing is so given, the sale may be in accordance with the consent;
(e) subject to paragraph (d) of this section, the goods distrained on shall be sold within the time fixed by the warrant, unless the sum or charges, if any, of taking and keeping the goods distrained on, for which the warrant was issued are sooner paid;
(f) where a person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress:
(i) willfully retains from the proceeds any property sold to satisfy the distress; or
(ii) otherwise exacts any greater costs or charges than those to which he is, for the time being, entitled by law or makes any improper charge,
he is liable, on summary conviction before a Magistrate, to a penalty not exceeding twenty thousand naira, but nothing in this paragraph shall affect the liability of the person to be prosecuted and punished for extortion; or for the return of the sum of money or value of the item extorted, by the person;
(g) a written account of the costs and charges incurred in respect of the execution of a warrant of distress shall, as soon as practicable, be delivered by the person charged with the execution of the warrant to the Court, and the convict on whose movable property the distress was levied may, at any time within one month after the making of the distress, inspect the account, without payment of any fee or reward, at any time during office hours, and to take a copy of the account;
(h) a person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress shall sell the distress or cause the distress to be sold, and may deduct out of the amount realized by the sale all costs and charges actually incurred in effecting the sale, and shall pay to the Court or to some person specified by Court, the remainder of the amount, in order that:
(i) the amount may be applied in payment of the sum for which the warrant was issued, and of the proper costs and charges of the execution of the warrant; and
(ii) the surplus, if any, may be rendered to the person on whose movable property the distress was levied.