Pondei, Interim Management Committee Not Restrained by Court
In the light of the misinformation concerning the order of an Abuja High Court on October 27, 2020, it has become necessary for us to make some clarifications in the matter in the interest of Niger Delta stakeholders.
We have received a Certified True Copy of the Enrolled Order of the Court made on October 27, 2020 on suit N0. FHC/ABJ/CS/617/2020 Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Governance V. A.G Federal Ministry of Justice.
We
have studied the order of the court and confirm that there is absolutely no
positive order restraining the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei or the Interim
Management Committee, IMC from performing the functions of the Board of the
NDDC.
All
the court did was to grant the applicant leave to apply for judicial review.
For the avoidance of doubt, the court ordered as follows;
“Leave
is hereby granted the applicant to apply for judicial review for an order of
mandamus in terms of the reliefs set out in the statement in support of the
application for leave which are...”
What
the court did in items i, ii and iii of the order was to reproduce the prayer
of the applicants. Prayer 3 of the applicant’s motion reads thus: “An Order of
this honourable court restraining the 3rd to 8th
Defendants from performing the function of the Board of NDDC pending the
hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The
above words do not and cannot constitute a Court Order, as such orders are
unequivocal and positive. The applicants being fully aware that no such order
was granted by the court are deliberately and mischievously misinterpreting the
Order of Court to suite their selfish objective.
We
have, however, written to the Deputy Chief Registrar, Federal High Court, Abuja
for clarification of the said order of court.
In
any event, the NDDC against whom the relief was sought is not a party to the
suit and the Honourable Court will not fall into an elementary trap of making
an Order against a person who is not a party to the suit.
This
case exemplifies the distractions we have had to deal with in our efforts to
reposition and refocus the NDDC as the foremost interventionist agency in the
Niger Delta region.
The
public is advised to ignore this attempt at creating an unstable atmosphere and
detracting from the gains recorded by the Interim Management Committee.
Charles Obi Odili
Director, Corporate
Affairs
December 4, 2020.