Share
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of a Federal High Court, Lagos has fixed March 2 for ruling on whether to entertain a motion challenging its jurisdiction first or contempt proceedings against three banks for allegedly disobeying an order to block Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd bank accounts.
Justice Oguntoyinbo fixed the date after hearing the argument of counsel on which application should be heard first.
The judge took arguments in favour of hearing a committal application filed by the plaintiff AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd through its counsel Kemi Pinheiro SAN, who led Oladapo Olanipekun SAN and Emeka Ozoani SAN.
Business/ ENERGY
For a while, insinuations that certain oil companies operating in Nigeria engage in underhand activities in the process of carrying out their businesses had been rife. Emmanuel Addeh writes that the latest dust raised by Aiteo E&P’s accusation that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) wilfully carried out unfair dealings against it, has again brought the matter to the fore, highlighting that the indigenous oil concern appears to have a strong case against the international oil giant
It started like the usual rumours, mostly unsubstantiated, of how the oil sector is exceptionally dirty, but since documents surfaced about how SPDC allegedly short-changed some local oil firms, it has almost taken the form of a scandal.The bone of contention is that between 2016 and 2018, SPDC putting to use a metering device not approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) short-changed local operators, Aiteo, being the hardest hit, to the tune of millions of barrel