Ifeanyi Ararume sues Buhari over withdrawal of NNPC board chair appointment

A former senator, Ifeanyi Ararume, has sued President Muhammadu Buhari over the withdrawal of his appointment as non-executive chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

Mr Ararume, who was appointed to the position in September 2021, was removed shortly before the inauguration of the board of the company in January 2022.

The former governorship candidate in Imo State filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, on 12 September to challenge his removal about eight months earlier.

He argued that his sacking was “wrongful,” and amounted to “disruption and interruption” of the term of his office.

He said it violated various provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters (CAMA), 2020, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, and the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.

He prayed for N100 billion damages and an order reinstating him to the office.

He also urged the court to set aside all the decisions the NNPC Limited’s board had taken since his wrongful removal from office.

Mr Buhari had in September 2021 appointed Mr Ararume as the non-executive chairman of the NNPC Limited for a five-year term.

The appointment, by virtue of the letter dated 20 October 2021 issued to him by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, took effect from 21 September 2021, the date NNPC Limited was incorporated as a private company limited by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The incorporation of the national oil company was necessitated by the coming into force of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, which led to the unbundling of the agency which had operated for decades as a public corporation.

The new board was initially scheduled to be inaugurated by President Buhari on 24 November 2021, but was suspended indefinitely without any reason offered on the eve of the scheduled event.

The presidency, on 5 January, made a fresh announcement of the appointment to the NNPC Limited’s board which revealed that Mr Ararume’s name had been replaced. Other appointees’ names remained on the list as earlier announced in September 2021. No reason was given for the replacement of Mr Ararume’s name.

Mr Ararume said in his suit that the inauguration of the board on 7 January with another person named as the non-executive chairman of the company came to him as a surprise.

He said he only received a letter dated 17 January informing him of the withdrawal of his appointment 10 days after the inauguration of the board.

“That no reasons whatsoever were adduced by the 1st defendant in the said letter 17th day of January 2022, warranting my purported removal or withdrawal of my appointment as the non-executive chairman of the 2nd defendant,” he wrote in his affidavit filed in support of his suit.

He said he had assumed duty as the non-executive chairman of the company on 12 November 2021, and, in that capacity, subsequently attended the 23rd World Petroleum Congress at Houston, Texas in the United States.

Having been appointed, Mr Ararume said, inauguration was “merely a ceremonial event” with no legal effect on his status and that of the other directors.

He said Mr Buhari lacked the power to remove him at will as his office was governed by the Companies and Allied Matters, 2020, the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, and the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.

He said he was never found guilty of any “of the pre-conditions for the removal of a non-executive chairman/director of the 2nd defendant as prescribed in the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 and/or the Articles of Association of the 2nd defendant or the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020”.

He added that he never resigned from office and was not dead.

“That I have never been adjudged or declared bankrupt or insolvent nor have I at any time whatsoever made any such arrangement or assignment, with my creditors which has not been rescinded or set aside;

“That no medical practitioner has given any medical opinion to any of the defendants that I am medically or physically incapable of discharging the functions of my office as a result of any infirmity of body or mind as the non-executive chairman of the 2nd defendant;

“That I have never demonstrated an inability to perform or to continue to perform the functions of my office as the non-executive chairman of the 2nd defendant,” the plaintiff wrote.

He, therefore, urged the court to declare that Mr Buhari lacked the power to remove him from office for “any reason(s) whatsoever outside the conditions specifically listed in the said Section 63(3) of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.”

He also urged the court to declare that by the combined provisions of Articles 21.3, 21.4 and 24 of the Articles of Association of the company, section 63(3) of the PIA, 2021 and Section 288 of CAMA, 2020, he “cannot be removed from office as the non-executive chairman of the 2nd defendant at will by the 1st defendant, without compliance with due process of the law.”

Mr Ararume’s legal team was led by Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, when the suit came up before Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday.

Alhassan Shuaibu, a principal state counsel from the Federal of Ministry of Justice, represented Mr Buhari.

Mr Uche told the judge that the suit had been served on the defendants and that the endorsement of service was already filed in court.

The judge ordered that CAC be joined as a party to the suit since the case had to do with interpretation of the CAMA.

The plaintiff’s legal team agreed. The judge then gave the plaintiff’s legal team five days to amend its processes and file the same.

The judge adjourned the suit until 15 December for mention.