Senator Ifeanyi Godwin Ararume has been reinstated as a non-Executive Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo revoked the sack of the businessman and set aside the removal done on January 17, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari on the ground that the action of the President was arbitrary, unlawful, and illegal.
A judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo in a suit by Ararume awarded N5 billion against Buhari and NNPCL to be paid to Ararume as damages for the unlawful sack and disruption of his appointment.
Justice Ekwo ordered that Ararume be immediately restored to office as non-Executive Chairman of the NNPCL.
He also declared as null and void all decisions of the Board of Directors of the NNPCL carried out in the absence of Ararume.
The judgment states that Buhari acted ultra vires, wrongful, illegal, null, and void in the ways and manners Ararume was sacked after using his name to register NNPCL and that such a brazen act cannot stand in the face of the law.
Ararume had dragged Buhari before the Court praying it to declare his removal as NNPC Chief illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional and that it is a total breach of CAMA law under which NNPCL was incorporated.
Apart from asking the court to issue an order to return him to office, Ararume also demanded N100 billion as compensation for the damages he suffered nationally and internationally in the unlawful way and manner his removal was carried out by President Buhari.
The court however declined to award the whopping sum of N100 billion compensation for damages suffered as a result of his unlawful removal but awarded an N5 billion cost as general damages.
Among the issues he raised for determination included whether, given the provisions of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the NNPC, Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2010, and the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 (PIA), the office of the non-executive Chairman was not governed and regulated by the stated provisions of the law.
A suit labeled FHC/ABJ/CS/691/2022 was initiated on his behalf by a group of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) comprising Chief Chris Uche, Ahmed Raji, Mahmud Magaji, Ogwu James Onoja, K.C Nwufor, and Gordy Uche.
Apart from that, the plaintiff wants the court to determine whether, by the interpretation of section 63 (3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the President can lawfully remove him as non-executive Chairman of the NNPC for any reason outside the provisions of the law.
Ararume is also praying the court to determine whether Buhari could sack him without compliance with expressly stated provisions of the Articles of Memorandum of Association of the Company, section 63 (3) of the PIA Act, 2021, and section 288 of the CAMA Act, 2020.
Included in the determination was whether his purported removal vividesetter of January 17, 2022, without compliance with expressly stated provisions of the law was not wrongful, illegal, null and void, and of no legal consequence whatsoever.
Upon the determination of the issues in his favour, the plaintiff wants the court to make a declaration that his position as non-executive Chairman of the NNPC was exclusively governed and regulated by CAMA 2020, PIA Act 2021 and Memorandum of Association of the Company.
“A declaration that by the provisions of section 63 (3) of the PIA Act, CAMA Act and Memorandum of Association of the NNPC, the President cannot by will remove him from office as non-executive Chairman without following due process of the law,†he urged.
Ararume therefore prayed for an order of the Court setting aside his removal by Buhari vides letter of January 17, 2022, with reference number SGF.3V111/86.
He again sought an order of the court reinstating him forthwith and restoring him to the office with all the appurtenant rights and privileges of the office of the NNPC’s non-executive Chairman.
Plaintiff further demands nullification and setting aside all decisions and resolutions of the NNPC Board made in his absence from January 17, 2022, to date and another order restraining the defendants from removing his name as Director of the Company.
In a 75-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, Ararume averred that upon the passage of the PIA 2021, the former Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries were unbundled to become Nigeria National Petroleum Company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission with number 1843987.
On October 20, 2021, Buhari approved his appointment as a non-executive Chairman for a period of initial five years and subsequently, his name was registered in the Memorandum of Articles of the Company and the appointment was announced to the whole world.
The complainant asserted that he was not guilty of any pre-conditions for removal and was never declared bankrupt or adjudged medically unfit for the job.
Founded on the unlawful act of the defendant, the plaintiff said that the action has fueled public suspicion and rumours against his person.
Thereafter, Ararume argued that he had suffered the loss of credibility and goodwill, untold emotional, mental, and psychological trauma, and public humiliation, degradation, and embarrassment by his purported removal by President Buhari.
He, therefore prayed the court to award him and to order his return to office in line with the letter and conditions of his appointment.
In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo ordered his immediate reinstatement as chairman of the NNPCL and nullified all previous decisions taken in his absence as his position is exclusively governed and regulated by CAMA 2020, PIA Act 2021 and the Momorandum of Association of the Organization.