Counsel for General Hydrocarbons Limited, Chief Ojukwu Chikoso (SAN), on Friday, described the reported Supreme Court judgment nullifying FirstBank of Nigeria’s seizure of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel, Tamara Tokoni, as a landmark victory for investors and a reaffirmation of judicial independence.
“The Supreme Court today handed down a powerful decision that the suit commenced by FirstBank at the Federal High Court was incompetent and an abuse of court process, in line with what we have always believed,” he said shortly after the judgment.
Chikoso said the apex court had brought to an end a dispute that saw the Court of Appeal order the sale of crude oil, adding that the justices held that the lower courts lacked jurisdiction “to make the orders or entertain the appeals” and consequently directed that the crude oil be returned to General Hydrocarbons.
He explained that the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by a five-member panel, nullified the seizure of the FPSO Tamara Tokoni and its crude oil cargo belonging to General Hydrocarbons, holding that the dispute with FirstBank was contractual rather than maritime.
It was reported that the apex court set aside the decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, declaring that the lower courts lacked jurisdiction to order the arrest of the vessel and the sale of its crude cargo.
