The last may not have been heard of the legal action instituted by the former Senator representing Imo North, Ifeanyi Ararume, against President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly removing him as Board Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The scalding 75-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit by Ararume also cast a critical eye on the matter, thereby raising eyebrows and a medley of discordant tunes.
Predictably, Ararume’s supporters argued in his favour stressing that no reason was given for the unceremonious removal of Ararume as NNPCL board chairman.
Some pundits argued that Ararume was edged out due to power play between him and the political caucus in his home state. He had allegedly been in a long-standing feud with the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma.
The genesis of the current feud dates back to Ararume’s appointment as board chairman of the corporation in September 2021 by Buhari; afterwards, he was tactically replaced with Margaret Chuba Okadigbo in January. Margaret is the widow of the late Chuba Okadigbo, a former president of the senate.
Apparently irked by his humiliating removal, Ararume protested quietly at first, but when he couldn’t endure the humiliation any longer, he went all out for war.
Ararume sought legal intervention on the matter, so he contracted his legal team to act on the situation.
The former chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, in the suit, is also demanding a whopping sum of N100 billion compensation for damages suffered as a result of his unlawful removal.
Among the issues Ararume raised for determination include: whether in view of 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.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/691/2022 was instituted 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.
Ararume also 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.
He had argued 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.
Ararume explained that 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.
Based on the appointment, Ararume averred that he attended the 23rd World Petroleum Congress in the United States of America but surprisingly on January 7th, 2022, Buhari, inaugurated the NNPC Board without recourse to him while another person was named in his place.
By a letter of January 17, 2022, he was informed of the withdrawal of his appointment but without any reason whatsoever to justify the purported removal.
Consequently, Ararume asserted that he had suffered a 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 N100 billion in compensation and to order his return to office in line with the letter and conditions of his appointment.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed the 15th of December for the hearing, all eyes are on the judiciary to see how it would adjudicate the matter.