Nigeria: Will Ogoni, Shell Oil Spill Dispute Ever Be Resolved allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With over 31 years of legal battle and two judgments of the Supreme Court, will the disputes between an Ogoni community and Shell ever be resolved, Davidson Iriekpen asks
For the second time in less than two years, the Supreme Court penultimate week dismissed an application by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) seeking to set aside a N17billion judgment given against it on January 11, 2019 over a 1970 oil spill in a community in Rivers State.
A five-man panel of the court in a unanimous ruling dismissed the Shell application as lacking merit.
Justice Centus Nweze who wrote the lead ruling in the case, marked: SC/731/2017, which was read by Justice Samuel Osuji, agreed with the respondents, Ejama-Ebubu in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, that Shell’s application was an invitation to the court to overrule itself.
The Federal High Court in Kano, yesterday, discharged and acquitted former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, and former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Campaign Coordinator in 2015 general elections, Mansur Ahmad, of money laundering charges.
The duo were initially paraded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside former Kano State governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, in May 2018 for allegedly collecting the sum of N950million from Mrs. Nenadi Usman, then director of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign in March 2015 for the re-election of Jonathan.
The EFCC alleged the monies distributed by the PDP under Jonathan’s administration were proceeds of stolen funds looted from public treasury.The anti-graft also alleged that the transaction of the money did not followed standard banking rules, thereby committing offences under Section 1(a) of Money Laundering Act 2011, punishable under Section 16 (2b) of same Act.