Staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited have demanded that Justice Charles Agbaza of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recuse himself from a case over the leadership in the NNPC Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
The request is contained in an application filed by 15 members of the cooperative society through their lawyer, Ibrahim Idris (SAN).
On Thursday, Idris informed the court about the application filed by his clients when the case, marked: FCTHC/ABJ/CV/2640/2024 came up.
The applicants are asking the judge to recuse himself, stating they were not comfortable in his ability to resolve the leadership dispute, objectively.
They alleged that some of the interim orders the judge made in the matter reflected his bias against them.
The applicants, who are defendants in the substantive suit, said they “have lost total and complete faith and confidence in the ability of the presiding judge in this matter to continue to entertain this suit and serve justice without bias.
“The conduct of the presiding judge during the hearing of this suit, and particularly judging from the nature of the orders of the presiding judge so far in the suit, it only points to one impeachable conclusion that the defendants are not likely to access justice in this honourable court hence the request that the presiding judge recuse himself from further presiding over this suit.”
The applicants added the court had on October 3, while there was a contention between two lawyers over who was validly briefed to represent the Cooperative Society (16th defendant), ordered one Mr. Lekan Ogunbayo to appear to clarify who he had instructed as the President of the Management Committee of the Cooperative, to defend it in the matter.
The said: “The fulcrum of the substantive suit principally revolves around whether the tenure of the Management Committee led by Mr. Ogunbayo (which had been removed by the Congress of the Association as at then) was subsisting.
“The status quo ante bellum was that an interim Management Committee led by the 2nd and 3rd defendants as the President and Secretary, respectively, had been appointed by the Congress of the 16th defendant and indeed, had been performing the functions of their offices, hence the challenge of the said decision by Claimants before this honourable court.
“The decision of the court ordering the appearance of the said Mr. Ogunbayo in the circumstance, had prejudged the suit at the interlocutory stage.
“Furthermore, the order made by the court on 10th October 2024, directing that the interim order of injunction made on the 30th of May, 2024, shall abide pending the hearing of the consolidated applications and substantive suit without hearing the defendants on whether or not it is suitable to grant an injunction in the circumstance, amounts to a denial of fair hearing of the defendants.
“The decision of the honourable court to extend the interim order of injunction in the circumstance without hearing the other side amounts to a perversion of justice,” the applicants said.
Lawyer to the plaintiffs, George Ibrahim (SAN) disclosed his intention to withdraw a contempt charge his clients initiated against the Director, Human Resources Department of the NNPCL, Mrs. Fatima Yakubu, accused of flouting the interim orders earlier issued in the case by the court.
Ruling, Justice Agbaza said he was aware of the application and subsequently adjourned till November 8 to hear all the pending applications in the case.
Plaintiffs in the case are four aggrieved staff of the NNPC – Eze Onwuneme, Chamberlin Ajagba, Alhaji Ibrahim Yakubu and Bello Mohammed Garba – who said they are also contributors to the NNPC Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
Onwuneme, Ajagba, Yakubu and Garba are, in the main suit, among others, querying the running of the group’s affairs.
Listed as defendants in the suit are Engr Josiah Omole, Udo Iboro, Ituah Aikhena, Osondu Ibeji, Farouk Achimugu, Prince Etuwewe, Nura Bello, Micheal Adejoh, Sambo Abdulaziz and Vincent Orji.
Others are Saint Kamvene, Braimoh Sunday Joseph and Galadima Immanuel, Engr Iliya Yusuf, Musa Garba Abubakar, and the NNPC Ltd Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Abuja.
The plaintiffs are seeking, among others reliefs, an order nullifying the purported appointment of the 2nd and 3rd defendants (Iboro and Aikhena) as President and General Secretary of the group, as well as the 4th and 15th defendants (Ibeji and Abubakar) as members of the Management Committee.