The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society leadership dispute has been postponed until November 8 by the Federal Capital Territory’s High Court in Maitama. The ruling is made in anticipation of the court’s consideration of a motion filed by 15 defendants to remove Justice Charles Agbaza from preside over the case on the grounds of alleged prejudice.
The defendants argued that the validity of Ogunbayo’s tenure, which had been ended by the Cooperative’s Congress, was the main focus of the lawsuit. They called the court’s decision to grant an interim injunction without considering their arguments a perversion and a denial of a fair hearing.
Justice Agbaza stated during the hearings that the defendants’ motion, which alleged that they lacked faith in the judge’s competence to render an unbiased decision, will also be addressed by the court. The defendants, backed by a legal team headed by Mr. Ibrahim Idris, SAN, contended that the judge’s earlier interim orders were biased against them and violated their right to a fair trial.
The defendants raised concerns in their request that the judge’s actions throughout the hearings, especially with reference to an order issued on October 3, suggested that the case was prejudged. The claimants had earlier contested Mr. Lekan Ogunbayo’s position as the Cooperative’s President of the Management Committee, and this order forced him to clarify it.
Four Cooperative members—Eze Onwuneme, Chamberlin Ajagba, Alhaji Ibrahim Yakubu, and Bello Mohammed Garba—started the case, which is registered as FCTHC/ABJ/CV/260/2024, against several defendants, including the NNPC Ltd Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society itself and several others, including Engr Josiah Gbemi Omole and Udo Iboro.
In a related development, Mr. George Ibrahim, SAN, the plaintiffs’ attorney, stated that he would drop the contempt case against Mrs. Fatima Yakubu, the director of NNPCL’s human resources department, over claims that she had disregarded the court’s interim orders. On November 8, the court will meet again to consider all outstanding applications pertaining to the conflict.
