BREAKING: High Court reverses sack of NNPCL Chairman

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ruled to reinstate Senator Ifeanyi Godwin Ararume as the non-Executive Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the court overturned Ararume’s removal from the position, which was carried out by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 17, 2023, stating that it was arbitrary, unlawful, and illegal.

In response to Ararume’s suit, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo awarded N5bn in damages to the businessman, ordering Buhari and the NNPCL to pay the compensation for wrongfully sacking Ararume and disrupting his appointment. Justice Ekwo also ordered that Ararume be immediately restored to his position as non-Executive Chairman of the NNPCL.

Moreover, the judge declared null and void all decisions made by the NNPCL Board of Directors in Ararume’s absence. Justice Ekwo deemed Buhari’s actions ultra vires, wrongful, illegal, null, and void, as he removed Ararume after using his name to register NNPCL, which was deemed a breach of the CAMA law under which NNPCL was incorporated.

In addition to the order to return Ararume to his former position, the businessman also demanded N100 billion as compensation for the damages he suffered nationally and internationally due to the unlawful manner in which his removal was carried out by President Buhari.