Contract Scandal: NLNG, Macobarb Know Fate December 15

Justice Chinwendu Nwogu of the Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, has fixed December 15, 2022, for ruling on an application brought by the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, seeking to strike out a civil suit filed against it by one of its contractors, Macobarb International Limited.

Macobarb and its chief executive officer, Shedrack Ogboru, had dragged the NLNG to court over a contract gone sour, asking for the N1 Billion as claims for allegedly breaching terms of the contract and using it to cancel it.

When the matter came up yesterday, counsel to NLNG, Valentine Igboneku, filed a ‘Motion on Notice’ asking the court to strike out the case.

Igboneku raised preliminary objections on two grounds, where he queried the time of filing of the suit as well as the presence of the contractor’s CEO as a party in the suit.

The NLNG counsel sought an order dismissing the suit in its entirety, alleging incompetence and want of jurisdiction.

It argued that the court did not have jurisdiction to entertain the suit, claiming that the suit was status-barred since the incident that warranted the case took place over five years (November 27, 2015) before the commencement of the action in court.

However, counsel to Macobarb, Morrison Uzoma, tried to convince the judge not to strike out, saying that the case cannot be status barred by time limitation because the said breach of contract contained criminal aspects.

Uzoma argued that in such civil cases that have criminal aspects which have already caused criminal action before a court of competent jurisdiction, such civil matters can no longer be status-barred.

The Macobarb’s counsel said, “We have shown in our counter affidavit that the second respondent (CEO of Macobarb) is not only an assign of the first claimant (Macobarb) who by implication is a party to the contract in contention who ought to be a party to the suit but that he is also a third party injured by the NLNG’s (defendant’s) breaches in denying the claimants funds in the execution of the said contract.

“This is in regard to the fact that the second claimant is the guarantor of the loan granted to the first claimant for the execution of the contract.

“Notwithstanding, we however re-emphasise that having shown that the struck out suit is still a pending cause that can be re-activated into the hearing list becomes most unnecessary.

“This brings the cause of action with the exception to the Limitation Law pursuant to Section 31(a) Cap 80 Laws of Rivers State 1999. It will amount to surplusage to delve into fraud as an exception to the limitation of action.”

Macobarb counsel therefore urged the court to dismiss the application of NLNG seeking to strike out the case.

Justice Nwogu, after listening to both parties, who argued and adopted their motions, adjourned the matter to December 15, 2022, for ruling.