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The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the immediate release of the crude oil aboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni to General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL).
The order brought to a close the protracted legal dispute between the company and First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) over the asset.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a five-member panel, the apex court held that the dispute was purely contractual and did not constitute an admiralty matter.
The apex court ruled that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
The court consequently allowed the appeal filed by GHL, set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, and described the appellate court’s decision as perverse.
Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru, who read the lead judgment, directed the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal and the Admiralty Marshal to immediately hand over the crude oil aboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni to General Hydrocarbons Limited.
The panel, comprising Justices Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel Agim, Tijjani Abubakar and Habeeb Adewale Abiru, unanimously affirmed that the case arose from contractual obligations between the parties and therefore fell outside the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in its admiralty jurisdiction.
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The dispute arose from a financing arrangement between First Bank of Nigeria (FirstBank) and GHL, owned by a businessman and media entrepreneur, Nduka Obaigbena.
FirstBank had approached the Federal High Court, invoking its admiralty jurisdiction and obtained orders over the FPSO Tamara Tokoni and the crude oil aboard the vessel to secure its interests in the commercial transaction.
The Federal High Court ruled in favour of FirstBank, holding that it had jurisdiction to entertain the matter and granting reliefs that enabled the arrest of the crude oil aboard the FPSO.
Dissatisfied with the decision, GHL appealed the judgment. The Court of Appeal dismissed GHL’s appeal and affirmed the Federal High Court’s decision.
GHL subsequently took the matter to the Supreme Court, and argued that the dispute was purely contractual and not an admiralty matter.
In the unanimous judgment, the apex court agreed with GHL, held that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit, set aside the appellate court’s judgment as perverse, and ordered the immediate release of the crude oil aboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni to GHL.
