Following a January 2024 Supreme Court judgement, BFIG corporation has begun the process of taking over the moribund Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State from its current operators, RUSAL.
It would be recalled that the apex court had, since 2012, ruled that the BFIG group is the preferred bidder for the smelter but RUSAL said that it had secured judgement from the London Court of Arbitration that ALSCON was properly privatized.
However, in an attempt to enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court, BFIG group led by its President, Chief Reuben Jaja and representatives of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) visited the ALSCON plant but were denied entry by RUSAL
It was gathered that when the BFIG delegation arrived, the ALSCON gate was securely locked and mounted by a combined team of the police and army officers.
It took several hours of persuasions for officials of ALSCON to allow just one representatives of BFIG to go in and hold talks with the Russians while the rest of the delegation waited in the scorching sun for more than four hours.
Fielding questions from journalists after the long wait on Thursday, lead counsel to the BFIG group, Chief Patrick Ikwueti (SAN), said they were in ALSCON, after a meeting with the Attorney general of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi, to begin the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgement
He said, “We are here because following the last Supreme Court judgement over the ALSCON matter, the one that was given on the 26th of January, 2024, we had a meeting with the Attorney General of the Federation and the BPE and we agreed on a number of things we have to do to fully enforce the Supreme Court judgement given on ALSCON since 2012, and part of what we agreed was that we should have a visit to ALSCON facility here in Ikot Abasi.”
Ikwueto said though the BFIG representatives had limited access into the premises, the company is satisfied that ALSCON actually exist in terms of physical building, adding however that he does not know the actual state of the plant.
ALSCON Managing Director, Dmitriy Zaviyalov had claimed during a media interaction with journalists in Uyo that ALSCON and the Nigerian Government had agreed that the last court of arbitration would be the London Court of Arbitration.
“You should understand that in our agreement with the Nigerian Government, it was agreed that the last court of arbitration would be the London Court of Arbitration,” Zaviyalov had said.
But reacting to Zaviyalov’s claim, Ikwueto said that the Supreme Court in it last judgement had underscored that that agreement was in itself a contempt of the court.
“While we were in court in 2004 and 2006, the Russians purportedly signed an agreement with BPE. That agreement was signed while the matter was still pending before the court.
“But the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2012 was specific that there was an order of injunction perpetually restraining the BPE from negotiating, selling or transferring ALSCON to anybody.
“So, the arbitration that you are talking about was based on Shared Purchase Agreement (SPA) they claimed to have signed in 2006 while the matter was pending in court.
“The Supreme Court in it last judgement on 26th January, 2024, underscored that the agreement was, in itself a contempt of the court” Ikwueto stated.
Our correspondent reports that the youths of Ikot-Abasi LGA had earlier on Saturday morning staged a protest to register their grievances against the Russians for locking the gate against BFIG group.
The protesters displayed placards with various inscriptions expressing their happiness over the Supreme Court judgement which declared BFIG group winner and preferred bidder for ALSCON.