The failure of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to file a counter-affidavit to a N100 billion suit instituted against President Muhammadu Buhari by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume has again halted hearing in the suit.
Ararume had last year at the Federal High Court in Abuja slammed the suit on Buhari to challenge his alleged unlawful removal as Chairman of the Board of NNPC after using his name to register the entity with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
At Wednesday’s proceedings billed for a definite hearing of the suit, counsel to NNPC, Mr Etigwe Uwa, SAN, informed the court that he had only filed a preliminary objection against the hearing of the suit.
Contrary to the order of Justice Inyang Ekwo made on December 15 last year, the senior lawyer said he had not filed a counter affidavit to the substantive suit of the plaintiff.
Uwa thereafter asked the Judge to proceed with the hearing of his preliminary objection and determine it one way or the other before coming back to the substantive matter.
Justice Ekwo, however, drew Uwa’s attention to the Practice Direction of the Federal High Court to the effect that both the substantive matter and any preliminary objection must be taken together to save the judicial time of the court.
The Judge stood his ground that he would not proceed with the hearing of the preliminary objection alone until a counter affidavit to the main suit has been filed in compliance with the order of the Court.
Earlier, Ararume’s lawyer, Chris Uche, had drawn the attention of the Judge to his December last year order that all processes must be filed and exchanged by parties before Wednesday’s proceedings.
He, therefore, urged the court to proceed to hear the main suit as agreed upon by parties during last December proceedings.
Uche explained that the position of the NNPC is untenable adding that if the Company is indulged, it would come up with other flimsy excuses in the next adjourned date.
However, Justice Ekwo resolved to give the NNPC another opportunity to do the needful by filing the necessary processes and warned parties to always comply with orders of the court.
Based on the parties’ agreement, the Judge fixed January 23 as another definite date for Ararume’s suit to be heard.
Ararume had last year sued President Buhari for N100 billion over his alleged unlawful removal as a non-executive Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited.
He is demanding the sum as damages caused him by the alleged unlawful manner he was removed as the NNPC chairman after using his name to incorporate the entity.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/691/2022 was instituted on his behalf by a group of Senior Advocates of Nigeria comprising Chief Chris Uche, Ahmed Raji, Mahmud Magaji, Ogwu James Onoja, Kingsley Nwufor and Gordy Uche.
Ararume prayed for an order of the Court setting aside his removal by Buhari vide letter of January 17, 2022, with reference number SGF.3V111/86.
He also sought an order from the court reinstating him forthwith and restoring him to office, with all the rights and privileges of the office of the NNPC’s non-executive chairman.
He further demands the nullification and setting aside of all decisions and resolutions of the board of NNPC Limited 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.
