A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), has revealed how the immediate-past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, saved the country billions of dollars that would otherwise have been paid as arbitral award to a foreign company, Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).
Nigeria’s effort to upturn the judgment debt and avert a major economic consequence paid off last week when a United Kingdom Royal Courts of Justice held that the earlier judgment awarded against Nigeria in favour of P&ID was fraudulent.
Delivering judgment in Nigeria’s appeal against the seizure of its assets anywhere in the world in payment of the said debt, Justice Robin Knowles held that P&ID had engaged in fraud, bribery, and concealment of material facts regarding the contract it entered with Nigeria, among others.
Knowles held that Nigeria was able to establish that there was, indeed, a serious irregularity that affected the tribunal.
Reacting to the judgment on ARISE NEWS, Aondoakaa, who was AGF when P&ID agreed with Nigeria in 2010 to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State, said the CBN under Emefiele greatly assisted Nigeria’s legal team in the case instituted against Nigeria in a London court.
P&ID had said the contract failed because the Nigerian government breached the terms of the contract.
It succeeded in securing an arbitral award of $6.6 billion against Nigeria, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at seven per cent, which accumulated to $11 billion.
Speaking on the development, Aondoakaa, who was one of the senior lawyers collaborating with Nigeria’s lawyers at the London court, also urged the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) to look at other fraudulent cases filed against the country.
He said: “This fraud has been exposed and it gives us a window to look at other similar cases like Ajaokuta and the rest of them that they hurriedly went abroad, got arbitration, and are trying to enforce against Nigeria.
“I, particularly, give credit to the CBN under the then Governor, Godwin Emefiele because there was strong pressure that settlement should be made. Our team was in the minority that we must fight till the end. There was also apprehension that if we didn’t settle and the court would now give judgment against us, Nigeria would lose everything. But for them to have confidence in us, there was one man in the CBN, the Director of Legal Services; he gave us the confidence, gave us the support, and ensured that we were able to present to the UK lawyers that this was a fraud. So, I am most grateful, I completely agree with the honourable Attorney General that this is a big fraud.”
Aondoakaa’s comment on how Emefiele and few others resisted pressure, also confirmed what presidency sources revealed at the time that many, including top government officials, had mounted pressure on the then President Muhammadu Buhari to approve payment for the award to avoid a heavier penalty if the matter dragged on.
Emefiele was said to have resisted and advised the President strongly against such approval, staking his name in convincing the president that the contract was fraudulent and that the P &ID would not succeed in court if Nigeria hired competent lawyers. It was based on the assurances of Emefiele that President Buhari refused payment and rather encouraged litigation, which eventually favoured Nigeria.
The federal government had on Monday won the legal case against P&ID Limited in a London court.
The judgment was delivered after five years of legal frameworks.
Emefiele, who had been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), was released Thursday night but was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shortly after.
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