• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

‘N17bn judgment: Shell’s request to S/ Court to review own judgment abuse of court process’

‘N17bn judgment: Shell’s request to S/ Court to review own judgment abuse of court process’

Some indigenes of Ejama-ebubu in Tai Eleme local government area of Rivers State, on Tuesday, described the application by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited for the Supreme Court to review and set aside a N17 billion judgment entered against it last year as an abuse of court process.

The Supreme Court had on January 11, 2019, upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal which slammed N17 billion damages against the oil giant for oil spillage in EjamaEbubu.

In a preliminary objection to the application filed by Shell asking the apex court to set aside its earlier judgment in the matter, Isaac Agbara, and others who are the respondents in the suit prayed the court to reject the application.

READ ALSO: Unitrust Insurance successful rights issue pushes paid-up capital to N6.4bn

The respondents in the preliminary objection argued through their lead counsel, Lucius Nwosu, a senior advocate of Nigeria, described Shell’s request as scandalous and an affront on the finality of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Nwosu, while urging the court to dismiss Shell’s application for being incompetent, submitted that the Supreme Court cannot sit on appeal in its own judgment.

The senior lawyer further argued that the action of the oil giant was a deliberate abuse of court process with a weighty request based on 23 grounds.

Nwosu further contended that the Supreme Court by its unanimous judgment on January 11, 2019, put an end to the over 30 years old legal tussle on the oil spillage suffered by the respondents and their people in the oil-producing region.