Peter Uzoho
Despite two Supreme Court judgments, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has refused to pay the Ejama-Ebubu community in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, the sum of N182 billion in judgment debt awarded damages against the oil company in an oil spill dispute.
But the Royal Dutch oil giant has contested the valuation.
Shell advised the community not seek to enforce the award while the injunction was in place.
It added that its current valuation of the size of the debt is “overstated” and “remains in dispute” in other court proceedings.
The Royal Dutch company has been involved in a long-running legal battle with the Ejama-Ebubu community of Rivers State, which in 2010 successfully sued the company for millions of dollars in damages for polluting its land.
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.