A Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, the Federal capital territory and presided over by Justice John Tsoho, has deferred ruling to March 17, on whether or not to vacate his order on the ceding of Oil Prospecting License 245, to the Federal Government, pending investigation and prosecution of suspects in the $1.2 billion Malabu Oil scam.
The OPL 245, an oil field believed to be the largest in Africa, was said to have been fraudulently acquired by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 1998 and afterwards sold to oil giants, Shell and Agip, in a shady transactions.
Justice Tsoho had on January 26, ordered the interim forfeiture of the oil field to the Federal Government, following an ex-parte motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Following the order, Shell Nigeria Exploration Oil Production Company Limited and Agip Exploration Limited on February 1, filed two applications, asking the court to dismiss, or in the alternative, set aside the interim order of attachment earlier granted by it.
On February 27, when the case came up for hearing, EFCC counsel, Johnson Ojogbane, countered the applications, urging the court to preserve its order.
He submitted that, “to vacate the order on OPL 245 is a disservice, not only the Federal Government, but to Nigerians, as the order was given properly with facts provided copiously”.
After exhaustive arguments from parties, Justice Tsoho adjourned to today for ruling.
At the resumed sitting, Abdullahi Haruna, counsel to Malabu Oil and Gas, again, asked the court to put on hold its ruling in order to entertain two fresh applications filed before it by his clients.
Aside urging the court to defer its ruling, Haruna also prayed the court to reopen the hearing of the case to enable them to be joined as parties.
“The purpose of these two applications is to seek your lordship’s indulgence to hear our two pending applications, seeking to enter as respondents to the two motions filed by both Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration Company, seeking to discharge the ex-parte order. We also seek your lordship’s indulgence to reopen hearing of the said application, to enable our two applications to be taken, so that we can respond to the two applications,” Haruna pleaded.
Counsel to Agip Exploration Limited, Babatunde Fagbolu, SAN, opposed the applications.
Adopting a written address dated March 8, Fagbolu described the applications as “frivolous and offensive,” and urged the court to dismiss them and proceed in delivering its ruling.
The learned silk further said that “there is absolutely nothing in the affidavit supporting the application that shows that it cannot wait for your lordship to deliver the ruling.”
Ogunmuyiwa Balogun, counsel to Shell, also aligned himself with the argument of the SAN, urging the court to dismiss the applications.
In his argument, Ojogbane said, “We do not intend, at this stage, to join issues with the applicant, depending on where the pendulum swings on this current application. We may join issues with them eventually if it becomes necessary.”
He said that the decision is at the discretion of the court on whether or not to refuse the application.
Consequently, the case was adjourned for ruling.
