Petro Union: The Supreme Court has reserved its decision in the £2.556 billion judgment sum

In the Petro Union fraud case, the Supreme Court on Thursday postponed a decision on a $15 billion judgment to a later date.

The apex court’s panel of justices, led by Justice Dattijo-Muhammad, heard Union Bank’s application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s judgment, as well as for an extension of time to appeal and to adduce additional evidence of the massive fraud.

Petro Union, as expected, opposed the application, but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami backed it up (SAN).

Prior to the legal fireworks from opposing counsel, the court threw out the issue of representation and rejected Petro Union’s former lawyer, Onyechi Egwuonwu’s attempt to reopen the controversy over the company’s actual lawyer in the case.

With that settled, Union Bank’s Mr Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) led three other lawyers in filing the application, after which he adopted his client’s processes.

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The silk argued that the lower court’s £2.556 billion judgment was obtained through fraud and suppression of relevant facts, and that the apex court should grant the application on several grounds.

Mrs. Olabisi Soyebo (SAN), counsel to CBN, backed Awomolo’s position and prayed the court to grant it in the interest of justice.

She stated that the decision the applicant sought to overturn is a national embarrassment, especially given the colossal sum at stake.

In a similar vein, the AGF, through Mr. T. A. Ghazali (SAN), argued that the federal government was in support of the application, which amounted to a national fraud and a violation of the rule of law.

Mr J. K. Gadzama (SAN), Petro Union’s lawyer, opposed the application and asked the court not to grant it because the court had become functus officio in the case.

The apex court reserved its decision on the application until a date to be communicated to the parties in the case after hearing all parties’ submissions and arguments.