Alleged Oil Spill: Court Strikes out N61bn Suit against Mobil

Justice I. N. Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday struck out a N61 billion suit against Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

The judge struck out the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the necessary requirements of the law to file the suit in the first instance.

The Registered Trustees of AIBOM Oil Producing Community Development Network and four others had dragged Mobil to court seeking the sum of N41,278,502,064 as special damages and N20,000,000,000 as general damages for an oil spill that allegedly occurred in 2014.

However, the defendant filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit in the first instance.

It hinged its case on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit, adding that plaintiffs did not show how they were affected by the alleged spill they were seeking to be compensated.

The AIBOM Oil Producing Community Development Network had filed the suit on behalf of 83 cooperative organisations who claimed that they were affected by the oil spillage in 2014.

But in arguing Mobil’s objection on October 8, its lawyer, O. A. Okafor from Kenna Partners, urged the court to strike out the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not meet the requirements for the commencement of the suit in a representative capacity.

Okafor further contended that the 83 cooperative bodies on whose behalf AIBOM Oil Producing Community Development Network claimed to be acting were not members of AIBOM Oil Producing Community Development Network and as such there was no common interest or damage suffered.

In his ruling, Justice Oweibo agreed with the submissions made by Okafor and held that indeed AIBOM Oil Producing Community Development Network was not a member of the class that had allegedly suffered damage resulting from the alleged oil spill.

The judge accordingly dismissed the suit for being incompetent and lacking in merit and went ahead to strike out the suit, particularly on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not meet the requirements for the commencement of a representative action, under extant laws. Oladimeji Olabode was counsel to the plaintiffs in this matter.