The Federal High Court Abuja Thursday fixed September 27 for ruling on the applications by all the parties in the suit brought by Donnington Nigeria Ltd against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation and eight others, seeking to set aside the purported award of contract for the Implementation of Advanced International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) Management in Nigeria.
The Federal Government of Nigeria had awarded the contract to Antaser Belgium, Velocity Logistics and Marine Ltd, Saham Crystal Investment Ltd, Winslow Logistics Ltd and Equal Logistics Ltd, who are listed as 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th defendants in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/2351/2022.
The plaintiff, which initially got a presidential approval for the said contract, alleges that the contract was later taken from them in violation of Nigerian laws and wrongfully awarded to the 6th to 10th Defendants, without due process.
They also alleged that the beneficial owners of the the companies that got the award were top government officials, who abused their offices to corner the juicy contract, using the companies as proxies.
According to a statement released by AG Haruna Esq on behalf of Dr. R.O. Atabo (SAN), counsel to the plaintiff, the Federal Government of Nigeria, Attorney-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Petroluem Resources, who are 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants in the case, were absent in court when the case came up. Neither were they represented by counsel. But it said that Mr. Mayowa Akanmode appeared for the 5th defendant, Oguche Agbonika for 6th, while the 7th and 8th defendants were represented by Abdullazis Esq, who moved their notice of preliminary objections and adopted all their processes.
“They challenged the competence of the plaintiff’s action on the ground that the suit is an abuse of court process and therefore the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
“The plaintiff however opposed all the notices of preliminary objection by the defendants and adopted all its processes,” the statement said.
After listening to the parties, the presiding judge, Binta Nyako fixed September27 for ruling.
Recall that the Nigerian Government had unilaterally appointed six other companies to implement the Cargo Tracking Scheme, instead of Donnington Nigeria Ltd, which had complied with all the requirements, including gaining presidential approval on 4th May 2021, for the re-introduction of the scheme. The company had also secured other relevant approvals from the various ministries and agencies.
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY had reported that certified documents obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria, show that appointees of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government may have used proxy companies to hijack the Cargo Tracking Scheme Contract, which triggered the legal tussle between Donnington Ltd and the Government of Nigeria.
There were also indications that the multi-billion Naira contract, was awarded without due diligence, as investigations reveal that four out of the five companies used were not registered with the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, which tends to suggest that the government officials involved unduly influenced the Bureau of Public Procurement BPP, whose duty it is to carry out due diligence.
Only Velocity Nigeria Ltd was duly registered, according to checks. The four others companies, which were not endorsed by SCUML, as required, are Antasar Nigeria Ltd, Equal Logistics Ltd, Winslow Logistics Ltd and Sahams Crystal Investment Ltd.
This was confirmed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a letter to solicitors of Donnington Nigeria Ltd, which was dated 30th March 2023. It was in response to their inquiry after they had gone to court to challenge the sham award of the said CTN Contract.