SUN NEWS
Ten civil society organisations under the aegis of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Monday, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to comply with a court order reinstating Ifeanyi Ararume as the non-executive Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja reinstated Ararume and set aside all decisions and resolutions of the board of the NNPCL made in the absence of Araraume from 17th January 2022 to date.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, at a press briefing yesterday further stated that the N5 billion awarded by the court as damages for Ararume’s wrongful removal should be paid because going by Section 63 (3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and Section 288 of Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, the Senator cannot be removed in the manner he was removed by the President on January 17, 2022.
Onwubiko said: “We in Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Association of African Writers on Human Rights (AFRIWRITE), Initiative for Transparency and Social Rights, Organisation for Promotion of Child Rights, Support for Democracy Group, Initiative for Peace and Accountability, and Youths Supporting Youth for Rule of Law, hail the reinstatement of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as NNPC Limited Non-Executive Chairman by the court and we demand swift obedience to rule of law because the appointment of Ararume to head the new NNPC which was backed up by CAMA was violated aggressively by President Muhammadu Buhari who dropped his name after he had been announced and had even started work.
“This is a clear breach of the Petroleum Industry Act which primarily seeks to end political and government interferences in the administration of the NNPC which by the new registration under CAMA ceases to be a corporation run by the government but a company limited by shares and registered under CAMA.
“The attempt to make the victory of Ararume appear like he is fighting President Buhari is wrong. Why should Ararume not seek legal redress when his fundamental right to a fair hearing under section 36(5) of the constitution was breached?
“We condemn any form of procured attack by fake civil society groups targeting the court judgment and condemn the futile time-wasting exercise by the government to head to Appeal Court without first complying with the judgment which is binding and the enrolled order already served on the parties by the litigant/plaintiff (in this case Ararume).
“We must state here that the NNPCL Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, has no hand in all of these because the decision of President Buhari is political and never followed prescribed steps by CAMA. So NNPC’s CEO is not funding these misplaced attacks but someone within the new NNPCL who has lost out because of the well-considered judgment is the one buying phantom and amorphous groups to attack the judgment and the plaintiffs.”
He reminded President Buhari of the primacy of the rule of law without which any nation deteriorates in standards of governance and nosedive into the abyss of anarchy and doom
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