Araraume urges Tinubu to reverse appointment of recent NNPC board

A former senator, Ifeanyi Ararume, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to rescind his appointment of a brand new board and administration staff for the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted (NNPCL).

Mr Ararume anchored his demand on a courtroom judgement he obtained in April this yr.

He was appointed because the board chairman of the NNPCL in September 2021 after which abruptly eliminated shortly earlier than the inauguration of the board of the corporate in January 2022 by then-President Muhammadu Buhari.

Angered by his abrupt elimination, Mr Ararume sued Mr Buhari and the NNPCL on the Federal Excessive Courtroom in Abuja on 12 September 2022, difficult his elimination about eight months earlier.

Deciding the swimsuit in April, the decide, Inyang Ekwo, overturned Mr Araraume’s elimination as NNPCL chair and awarded N5 billion damages in his favour.

The decide stated Mr Araraume’s elimination was unconstitutional and as such, ordered that he be restored because the Non-Government Chairman of the nationwide oil firm with full advantages.

The decide additionally put aside each choice taken by the board that was appointed after Mr Ararume’s elimination.

Nonetheless, the federal government appealed in opposition to the Federal Excessive Courtroom judgement on the Courtroom of Enchantment in Abuja the place the attraction remains to be pending.

Final week, Mr Tinubu introduced the appointment of Pius Akinyelure as Non-Government Board Chairman of NNPCL, whereas Mele Kyari was reappointed as Group Chief Government Officer of the federal government oil firm.

Push to reclaim NNPCL chair

Mr Ararume, a former senator from Imo State, south-east Nigeria, faulted Mr Tinubu’s appointment of the oil firm’s new management.

In a press release dated 30 November, Mr Ararume’s lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), cautioned the general public in opposition to having any dealings with the Akinyelure-led new board.

Mr Onoja stated the 27 November appointment of the NNPCL administration staff was in “utter violation of the judgment and order of the Federal Excessive Courtroom, Abuja dated 18 April 2023.”

He stated the courtroom restrained the president from eradicating Mr Araraume’s title from the Company Affairs Fee as a Non-Government Director of NNPC Ltd.

“This judgment stays legitimate and subsisting till this second with out being put aside.

“We state that the purported appointment quantities to a flagrant disobedience of courtroom order and brazen disregard of the judgment of a courtroom of competent jurisdiction. We’re appalled and shocked that the President might openly disobey the courtroom judgment by purporting to nominate a New Board and Administration Crew for NNPC Ltd as an alternative of giving implementation to the stated judgment of the Federal Excessive Courtroom delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo on the 18 April 2023.”

Mr Onoja expressed shock that Mr Tinubu “has taken the legal guidelines into his palms to overrule the courts and usurp the jurisdiction of the Courtroom of Enchantment earlier than whom the President has filed an attraction which is pending.”

He went on: “With the stated judgment nonetheless legitimate and subsisting, it’s clear as crystal even to the frequent man that the appointment of the brand new Board and Administration of the NNPC Ltd by the President on the 27 November 2023, is against the law, wrongful, null and void and of no authorized consequence.

“By this Discover, most people is subsequently warned to watch out for these unlawful appointments in their very own curiosity. The general public is urged to keep away from having any dealings in any way with the brand new Board and Administration of the NNPC Ltd as anybody who goes forward to do any enterprise or transactions with them might be doing so at his or her personal peril.

“We hereby name on Mr President, who is a large beneficiary of judicial pronouncements and rule of legislation, to reverse his choice and permit the circulate of the rule of legislation.

“Mr President ought to have identified that respect for rule of legislation is equally a robust issue within the attraction of International Direct Funding (FOI), which he has been travelling all around the world to advertise.”