A former staff of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited Company, James Nwagbogwu Ebede has commenced committal to prison proceedings against six management staff of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.
The management staff are Lead Country Manager, Richarch Lang, General Counsel, Dozie Adesuwa, Executive Director of Human Relations, Aliyu Bala, Production Manager, Alexander Savva, and two other senior management staff, Olusegun Banwo and Adelabu Adedoyin.
In form (48), Notice of Consequence of Disobedience of Order of Court instituted before the Lagos Division of the National Industrial Court, the contemnors, were urged to take notice that unless they obey the directions contained in the Order of the National Industrial Court, Lagos Division made on the 15th day of August 2022 to wit:
That the Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited is ordered to furnish an account in any name with enough funds to offset the judgment of the Honourable Court should the Claimant’s claims succeed;
That Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited is to file an affidavit of compliance in two weeks, and a lien placed on the said account so that these funds cannot be depleted and;
That the funds in the account will revert to the Defendants if they successfully defend against the Claimant’s claims, forthwith, you shall be guilty of Contempt of Court and will be liable to be committed to prison.
It would be recalled that by a Motion dated and filed on May 9, 2022, the Claimant/Applicant, James Nwagbogwu Ebede had prayed the Court for an Order directing the Defendants to furnish sufficient security in the sum of USD4,200,000 (Four Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars) to satisfy any decree or judgment that may be made against the Defendants’ in this suit.
The Application was brought on the following grounds:
That the Claimant filed this action against the Defendants as far back as January 2018, claiming the sum of $4,200,000 for unlawful termination of his appointment;
That the 1st Defendant, ExxonMobil Corporation, on the 19th November 2020 obtained an Order staying proceedings in this case, pending the determination of a purported appeal, hence the hearing of this case was stalled for over one year;
That this Honourable Court on the 27th day of January 2022 set aside the order staying proceedings and adjourned the case for hearing.
By the application, the court was prayed to Order the Defendants to furnish sufficient security to satisfy any Judgment that may be given.
The application is supported by a 29-paragraph affidavit, exhibits, and a written address containing counsels’ submissions.
It would be recalled that the 1st and 2nd Defendants both filed counter affidavits on June 7, 2022, supported by exhibits and written addresses containing their respective counsels’ counter affidavits.
Specifically, the lawyer to the applicant, Chuks Uguru, had urged the Court to Order the Defendants to furnish sufficient security to satisfy any Judgment given.
Paul Usoro, SAN, with two other lawyers represented ExxonMobil Corporation, while Abimbola Akeredolu, SAN with three other lawyers represented Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.
In his ruling, the Court, presided over by Justice R.H.Gwandu said, “I have gone through the processes filed, the exhibits tendered and the argument of counsels as contained in their final written addresses.
“The sale of assets as submitted by the Claimant, and as can also be seen in the media relates mainly to the 2nd Defendant, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited assets in Nigeria which may or may not be, pending the assent of the Minister of Petroleum. It, therefore, means that this application will mainly affect the 2nd Defendant whose assets have been the subject of sale.
“Consequently, It is hereby ordered as follows:
‘That the 2nd Defendant, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, is ordered to furnish an account in any name with enough funds to offset the Judgment of this Honourable Court, should the Claimant’s claims succeed.
‘That the 2nd Defendant is to file an affidavit of compliance in two weeks, and a lien placed on the said account so that these funds cannot be depleted.
‘That the funds in the said account will revert to the Defendants if they successfully defend against the Claimant’s claims.’
According to a statement of fact filed before the Court by a Lagos-based lawyer, Francis Chuka Agbu, SAN, the former ExxonMobil corporation staff, Ebede, stated that he worked with the company from December 2001 to 2018 as an Engineer and that because of his consistent excellent performance, he was at various times given important responsibilities.
He revealed that in 2015, he was deployed to Dubai, with the posting to last till December 2017, but that he was forcefully redeployed back to Nigeria and retired because he refused to carry out dishonest actions that he was being compelled to do by the Manager of ExxonMobil while on assignment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran.
According to him, on his return to Nigeria, further punitive actions were taken against him, leading to his forced pre-mature retirement.
This prompted Ebede to file an action, claiming a sum to the tune of $4.2million to assuage the injustice allegedly meted out to him.
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