President Buhari's Sack Of Ararume As NNPCL Chairman Overturned By Court

Senator Ifeanyi Godwin Ararume has been restored as the non-Executive Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL.

Ararume's reinstatement was by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday where his sack by Muhammadu Buhari was voided on the ground that the action of the President was arbitrary, unlawful and illegal.

Delivering his judgement, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo awarded the sum of N5 billion against President Buhari and the NNPCL.

The aforementioned sum is to be paid to Ararume as damages for the wrongful sack and disruption of his appointment.

Justice Ekwo also ordered that Ararume be restored immediately to office as a non-Executive Chairman of the NNPCL.

He further declared as null and void all decisions of the Board of Directors of the NNPCL carried out in the absence of Ararume.

Furthermore, the judge held that Buhari acted ultra vires, wrongful, illegal, null and void in the ways and manners Ararume was sacked after using his name to register NNPCL and that such a brazen act cannot stand in the face of the law.

Ararume had taken President Buhari to court after he was sacked by the latter on January 17, 2023, praying the court to declare his removal as NNPC Chief illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional and that it is a total breach of CAMA law under which NNPCL was incorporated. 

He also demanded N100 billion as compensation for damages.