Mild drama played out at the Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday, when two Senior Advocates of Nigeria and counsels to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Prof. Kayinsola Ajayi and Etigwe Uwa, walked out of the court in the hearing of an N100 million suit filed by Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume against President Muhammadu Buhari.
The suit borders on his (Araraume) alleged unlawful removal from the NNPCL board.
The two counsels walked out of the court in protest against the decision of the court to hear all three applications filed by the NNPCL along with the substantive matter.
Recall that hearing in the matter filed by Senator Araraume at the Federal High Court, Abuja had been stalled on two previous occasions by the NNPC.
The plaintiff, Araraume had instituted a N100 billion suit against President Buhari over his alleged unlawful removal as Non-Executive Chairman of the newly incorporated Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
While Buhari is the first defendant in the matter, the NNPCL and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are second and third defendants respectively.
At the Monday’s proceeding, the judge directed parties to identify and adopt their processes as their brief of argument in the matter.
In his argument, lead lawyer to the NNPC, Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi, SAN, drew the court’s attention to a motion for stay of proceedings challenging the January 11 position of the court, which had declined to take the NNPCL’s motion of preliminary objection to the substantive suit.
Ajayi was of the opinion that the application for stay be taken and the court takes a decision one way or the other before progressing with the case.
However, Justice Ekwo declined, insisting that the court would take all motions together, including the substantive suit.
Sensing that the court has placed him at an uncomfortable position, after several attempts to make the judge take the application for stay first, failed, Ajayi asked the judge for permission to withdraw from the proceedings.
Ekwo at that point reminded the lawyer that he was not the one who engaged Ajayi in the first place, saying the senior lawyer was at liberty to take whatever decision he deemed good.
Ajayi instantly withdrew from the proceedings and walked out of the court alogside Uwa and other junior lawyers.
The court nevertheless reminded Ajayi that a process already filed before a court is deemed adopted even if the lawyer refuses to do so.
The judge subsequently called on other parties to adopt their various processes.
Responding, Araraume’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche, urged the court to invoke the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to nullify the removal of his client as the Chairman of the NNPCL.
Uche argued that President Muhammadu Buhari acted outside the law to remove Araraume as Board Chairman after incorporating the oil company in his name and was billed for inauguration in that capacity.
Countering, Buhari’s lawyer, Mr Abubakar Shuaib, disagreed with Araraume and prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that it was statute barred at the time it was filed.
Specifically, Shuaib argued that Araraume’s suit offended Section 2(a) of the Public Officers Act and as such was incompetent.
Also, counsel to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr Akeeem Mustapha, SAN, told the court it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Mustapha claimed that his client (CAC) did not play any role in the removal of Araraume, other than incorporating NNPCL as a limited liability company based on the document submitted to it.
Meanwhile, he submitted that Araraume’s appointment was political, adding that the president has the power to hire and fire.
He stressed further that Ararume’s appointment has nothing to do with the CAMA law.
After hearing out other parties and having adopted their brief of arguments, Justice Ekwo announced March 28 as date for ruling and or judgment in the suit.
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