Firm Challenges N19.4bn Award, Seeks Lagos CJ’s Intervention

The enforcement dispute over a ₦19.4 billion arbitral award in favor of Hanson Dredging & Marine Services Ltd. has taken a new turn after the respondent, SANEF Creatives Ltd., filed an appeal against the enforcement action and asked the Chief Judge of Lagos State to hear the case.

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In the high-stakes legal battle resulting from a terminated dredging and reclamation contract at the National Theatre, Lagos, there have been allegations of forum shopping and abuse of judicial procedure. Hanson characterizes the maneuver as a deliberate ploy to thwart justice.

The ongoing legal battle is a result of Hanson Dredging’s disagreement with SANEF, a company owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Bankers’ Committee, regarding the dredging and reclamation contract’s illegal termination.

The contract was signed in November 2021, but in May 2022, SANEF insisted that the 36-week period had passed, ignoring delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and administrative obstacles.

After that, Hanson Dredging, who was represented by Dr. Charles Mekwunye, SAN, filed for arbitration in 2023 and claimed that the CBN, then-Governor Godwin Emefiele, had illegally taken ₦4.2 billion in advance payments out of their account.

Ayo Fanimokun, the sole arbitrator, ruled in a decision dated December 30, 2024, that SANEF had broken the terms of the contract by ending it before Hanson had finished more than 60% of the work.

In Suit No. LD/6707GCM/2023, which was recently transferred to Justice O. A. Sunmonu of the Lagos State High Court by the Chief Judge of Lagos State from Justice Olukolu, Hanson Dredging attempted to enforce the judgment of ₦19.4 billion following the final arbitration proceedings.

However, two more claims on the same subject matter were filed by SANEF through its attorney Paul Usoro & Co. Suit No. LD/8056GCM/2024 and Suit No. LD/9221GCM/2025, the latter of which is presently before Justice Olukolu.

The legal firm then petitioned Justice Kazeem Alogba, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, to move the enforcement suit from Justice Sunmonu and combine the three lawsuits before Justice Olukolu. J

The company has also filed several petitions with the Chief Judge on the subject, including one dated May 26, 2025, in which it charges Justice Sunmonu with procedural overreach and judicial bias.

It asserted that in spite of an ongoing application for consolidation, the judge displayed “unrestrained ambition” to hear all relevant facts.

SANEF’s attorney and former NBA President Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, contended in the petition that Justice Sunmonu’s actions were beyond the parameters of Order 41 Rule 7(2) of the Lagos High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, which gives the Chief Judge consolidation authority.

Additionally, according to his petition, Justice Sunmonu demanded that the case that was previously before Justice Olukolu be moved to his court.

Due to the possibility of a miscarriage of justice, it requested that the Chief Judge redistribute all of the cases involved to either Justice Olukolu or another judge, except Justice Sunmonu.

However, Hanson Dredging rejected the claims as abusive, deceptive, and a risky attempt to browbeat the judiciary in response to the petition, as stated by its lead counsel, Dr. Charles Mekwunye, SAN.

“Unprofessional and scandalous,” Dr. Mekwunye said of the petition dated May 26, 2025, adding that no judge should have to endure such public humiliation for carrying out their judicial duties.

Paul Usoro SAN personally argued the petition in public on May 27, 2025, Mekwunye said, a move he said was intended to influence the judiciary.

In the petition, he also mentioned disparaging terms like “judicial tyranny” and “naked ambition,” which he said were blatant insults to Justice Sunmonu and the Lagos judiciary as a whole.

Additionally, Dr. Mekwunye expressed worry about what he called “abuse of court process” by filing three different lawsuits over the same transaction and attempting to utilize the chief judge’s elevated position to get around the enforcement processes.

Although SANEF aims for consolidation, he claimed that its goal seems to be more forum shopping—looking for a court that is more lenient—than judicial efficiency.

Citing appellate decisions like Emperion v. Aflon and Ngere v. Okuruket, which maintain that consent from both parties is necessary for consolidation and that it should never be granted where it could cause procedural confusion or injustice, Dr. Mekwunye emphasized that consolidation cannot be imposed unilaterally.

Additionally, he complained about Mr. Usoro’s portrayal of the court’s procedures on April 17, 2025, claiming that the decision only allowed SANEF to reply to Hanson’s request to enforce the arbitral award.

According to Mekwunye, Hanson Dredging’s application to execute its Arbitral Award and SANEF’s preliminary objection were the two motions slated for the hearing before Justice Sunmonu on April 17, 2025.

According to his allegations, Usoro asked the court to adjourn until the Chief Judge responded to his petitions and told them that a fresh suit had been brought to overturn the award.

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A letter to the Chief Judge does not function as a stay of proceedings or provide an excuse for postponing a legitimate enforcement petition, according to Mekwunye, who said he was against the move and described the new litigation as a flagrant abuse of the legal system.

Usoro then filed a flurry of petitions and applications, he said, including one alleging tampering with court records, a serious charge that should be handled separately and not used to halt ongoing proceedings.

By attempting to mandate that Justice Olukolu hear all suits, Mekwunye further charged the SANEF’s attorney with a deliberate attempt to influence the court assignment system.

“No litigant has the right to choose which judge hears their case,” Mekwunye wrote in his response letter. Judicial assignment is solely the Chief Judge’s prerogative, and any attempt to interfere with that process is an assault on the judiciary itself.

“We thus appeal to his Lordship not to lend the weight of your exalted office to a law firm which is behaving as a law unto itself, grossly abusing the process of the court by filing several suits in respect of the said matter, nominating the particular judge to hear these various suits along the way insulting and humiliating judges and denigrating the judiciary under your watch,” Mekwunye said, pushing the Chief Judge to disregard SANEF’s petition.