April 19, (THEWILL) – A Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified all decisions taken by the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) between January 5, 2022 and April 18, 2023.
The annulment was pronounced by the presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, while delivering judgment in a matter brought before the court by Mr Ifeanyi Ararume, sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari and replaced with Margaret Okadigbo as NNPCL’s non-executive chairman.
Ararume had dragged Buhari before the court, praying that it declare that his removal as the NNPC chairman was illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional and that it was a total breach of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), the law under which the NNPC was incorporated.
Furthermore, he prayed for the court to issue an order to return him to the office and also demanded N100 billion as compensation for the damages he suffered nationally and internationally
In her judgment, Ekwo voided Ararume’s sacking and awarded N5 billion as damages against Buhari and the NNPC, to be paid for the disruption of Ararume’s appointment on the grounds that the action of the President was arbitrary, unlawful, and illegal.
The judge ordered that Ararume be immediately restored to office as the non-executive chairman of the NNPC.
The judge also set aside every decision taken by the board that was appointed after Ararume’s removal, and also awarded N5 billion as damages in favour of Ararume.
The judge ruled that Buhari acted ultra vires, and his act was wrongful, illegal, null and void in the ways and manners in which Ararume was sacked after using his name to register the NNPC and that such an act could not stand in the face of the law.
In a notice of preliminary objection, Buhari had said Ararume’s removal from the NNPC board as chairman was done in his capacity as a public officer by virtue of Section 251 (1) of the 1999 constitution
THEWILL checks showed that the NNPCL had engaged in many activities which were fallouts from decisions by the organisation’s apex policy-making body. These include recruitment, appointment and major contracts. The organisation had conducted at least one recruitment exercise since Ararume’s exit.
The N48 billion pipeline surveillance contract to a former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, was decided in September 2022. However, the President serves as the final approval authority for the job.
Commenting on the development, Principal Partner, Victor Ukutt and Co, Mr Victor Ukutt, said the law demands that court orders be obeyed, irrespective of how “wrong” or “unacceptable” they may be. He agreed there may be some hurdles in enforcing the court order, the Lagos-based Legal Practitioner urged NNPCL to comply with the judgment or go on appeal.
NNPCL’s spokesman, Garba Deen Muhammad, did not respond to an enquiry sent to his WhatsApp.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
