Falana threatens to sue FG over NNPC appointments

Lagos lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana, has faulted the appointment of Messrs Steve Oronsanye and Ben Otti into the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which increases the statutory numbers of the board members from seven to nine. He urged the government to review the board appointment or face legal action.
Falana said the Federal Government should demonstrate sincerity in the fight against corruption in the oil sector. He said it would be out of place for the government to ask the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu to head the white paper committee on the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, PRSTF, since according to him, the minister was indicted in the alleged illegal payment of N2.7 billion to a company for fuel that was never supplied.
On Oronsaye and Otti, Falana said the appointment of the duo was “illegal, null and void as it violates Sections 2 & 3 of the NNPC Act, which provides that NNPC shall have six members and an alternate Chairman.

Court Dismisses $12.5bn Gulf Oil Windfall Suit

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to expose how the  $12.5 billion gulf war oil windfall that accrued to Nigeria under the leadership of retired General Ibrahim Babangida in 1990 was spent.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the applicants had no locus standi to institute the action and that they failed to establish by admissible evidence that they were entitled to a hearing.
Six civil society groups had sued the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asking that the accrued revenue be accounted for.

The groups are the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Women Advocates and Documentation Centre, Committee for Defence of Human Rights, Access to Justice, Human and Environmental Development Agenda and Partnership for Justice.
The applicants, through their counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), had asked the court to make an order of mandamus compelling the AGF and CBN to publish a detailed statement of accounts showing how the money was spent between 1988 and 1994.

After several adjournments, Justice Kolawole finally delivered the much-awaited judgment.
In dismissing the suit, Justice Kolawole held that the suit was statute barred because it was not filed within the statutory twelve months period after the Okigbo panel report was produced and submitted.