NNPC Director Faces Contempt Charges for Alleged Court Order Violations

A Director at the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mrs. Fatima Yakubu, has been charged with contempt of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for allegedly violating its orders.

If found guilty, she could face a two-year jail sentence for disobeying the lawful order of the court.

The contempt charge was filed by four NNPC employees who contribute to the NNPC Multipurpose Cooperative Society. These employees had previously obtained a court order from the Abuja High Court in a case marked FCTHC/ABJ/CV/2640/2024. The order barred 14 leaders of the NNPC Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society from presenting themselves as officers of the Cooperative Society.

Justice Charles Agbaza, who issued the order in response to the plaintiffs’ ex-parte application, also prohibited the 14 individuals from making any decisions regarding the leadership of the Cooperative Society or holding themselves out as its officers.

Despite the court’s order, Mrs. Fatima Yakubu, head of the Human Resources Department at NNPC, allegedly provided access to the NNPC portal to these 14 individuals, enabling them to hold a disputed election for Cooperative Society officers.

However, the contempt proceedings were delayed as two lawyers, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Anthony Malik and Andrew Eche, argued over who should represent the NNPC Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society. Both laid competing claims in court to being the legitimate legal representative of the Cooperative.

During the hearing, Malik requested time from Justice Agbaza to resolve the legal representation issue with Eche outside of court. Counsel for the four plaintiffs, George Ibrahim SAN, interjected, stating that the 14 defendants could not participate in the proceedings until they had purged themselves of contempt.

Eche pointed out that a previous order required Olalekan Ogunbayo, President of the Cooperative Society, to be present in court to clarify the legal representation issue, and Ogunbayo was indeed present.

Sensing potential embarrassment, Malik opposed bringing Ogunbayo into the proceedings, requesting instead that the issue be settled out of court with Eche.

Justice Agbaza postponed the matter to October 17 to resolve the legal representation dispute and address the main issue.

The four plaintiffs in the suit are Eze Onwuneme, Chamberlin Ajagba, Alhaji Ibrahim Yakubu, and Bello Mohammed Garba. The defendants include Engr. Josiah Gbemi Omole, Udo Iboro, Ituah Aikhena, Osondu Ibeji, Farouk Achimugu, Prince Etuwewe, Nura Bello, Micheal Adejoh, Sambo Abdulaziz, Vincent Orji, Saint Kamvene, Braimoh Sunday Joseph, Galadima Immanuel, Engr. Iliya Yusuf, Musa Garba Abubakar, and the NNPC Ltd Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Abuja.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to nullify the appointment of the 2nd and 3rd defendants as President and General Secretary of the Cooperative, and the 4th and 15th defendants as members of the Management Committee. Additionally, they are asking for an injunction to prevent the 1st defendant and others from recognizing or enforcing the appointments of the 2nd to 15th defendants as Cooperative officers. They also seek a perpetual injunction barring the defendants from representing themselves as the Management Committee.