ALSCON Crisis: Appeal court affirms order for the arrest, jail of BPE DG

The Appeal Court in Abuja on Friday in a unanimous ruling gave the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and its Director-General, Alex Okoh, 30 days to comply with and enforce the July 6, 2012 order of the Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling which affirmed BFIGroup as the winner of the bid for the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, . 

The Court affirmed the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja for the arrest and imprisonment of the Director-General of the BPE, Alex Okoh, for contempt and disobedience of Supreme Court orders over the ownership of Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria. 

In a unanimous ruling, Justices Stephen Adah, A. Mustapha and Kenneth Amadi affirmed the order of Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 17, 2019. 

In his ruling on the application filed by BFIGroup, the Nigerian-American consortium declared winner of the bid for ALSCON in 2004, Justice Chikere ordered that Okoh be remanded in prison for a minimum of 30 days “until he purges himself of the contemptuous acts of disobedience of the orders of the Supreme Court.” 

Since July 6, 2012, the apex court, in a unanimous ruling, affirmed BFIGroup as the winner of the bid ALSCON. 

Following the bid for ALSCON held in 2004, the National Council for Privatisation (NCP) declared BFIGroup winner and the preferred bidder with an offer of $410 million. 

But, BPE unilaterally cancelled the win in controversial circumstances, resulting in BFIGroup taking the matter before the court in 2006. The case dragged till July 2012 when the Supreme Court gave “an order of specific performance” to BPE to rescind its earlier decision to cancel the bid, reinstate BFIGroup and hand over ALSCON to it. 

However, after two orders of the lower court seeking the enforcement of the Supreme Court ruling failed to persuade BPE to reverse its decision, BFIGroup on April 4, 2019 commenced contempt proceedings against BPE and Okoh. 

On April 10, the court issued a formal notice to BPE and Okoh threatening to commit them to prison for their continued disobedience of the directive of the Appeal Court and the order of the Supreme Court in respect of the ownership crisis in ALSCON. 

The notice read: “TAKE NOTICE that this Honourable Court will be moved on the 13th day of May 2019 at the hour of 9 O’clock in the forenoon or soon thereafter as Counsel may be heard on behalf of the Applicant praying this Honourable Court for: 

1. AN ORDER of this Honourable Court for Committal to Prison to be made against: a. Alex Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises; b. Bureau of Public Enterprises for disobeying and refusing to fully enforce the judgment/orders made by the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC 12/2008 BFI Group v, BPE dated 6 July 2012 and the subsequent Enforcement Order contained in the Judgement of the Court of Appeal No. CA/A/637/2014 BPE v. BFI Group Corporation dated 11 January 2019.” 

Okoh ignored the notice, by refusing to enter negotiations with BFIGroup pursuant to the order of the court. Consequently, on December 17, 2019, Justice Chikere ruled on the application granting BFIGROUPROUP’s request for Okoh and BPE to be remanded in prison for a minimum of 30 days. 

Although BPE claimed on December 24, 2019 that it filed an appeal, No. CA/ A/117/M/2019, for a stay of execution of the committal order against its DG, BFIGroup’s Executive Vice President, Jimmie Williams, faulted the application as a sham. 

In a petition to the President of the Court of Appeal titled “RE: Mr. Alex Okoh and BPE’s Sham Stay of Execution in Case No. FHC/ABJ/ CS/583/2004” dated January 21, 2020, Williams, who is also BFIGroup’s General Counsel, urged the court to uphold the contempt charge against Okoh. 

However, when the Appeal Court entered a final ruling on the matter on Friday, Counsel to BFIGroup, Patrick Ikwueto, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) told MEDIATRACNET that the court affirmed the order of the lower court. 

“The Appeal Court upheld in its entirety the order of Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja which asked BPE and its DG to fully comply with the directive of the Supreme Court for ALSCON to be handed over to BFIGroup, the preferred winner of the bid. We expect BPE and its DG to do the honourable thing and respect the rule of law,” Ikwueto said. 

Dr. Rueben Jaja, BFIGroup President, while reacting to the ruling, said the Appeal Court has demonstrated once again that the court is the hope of a common man. 

“The court has reaffirmed that they are ready to support anyone, whether in Nigeria or abroad, who is ready to invest in Nigeria, despite the corrupt tendencies of some selfish and misguided public officials. BFIGroup is ready to go ahead to take over and revitalize ALSCON to benefit of the youth in the Niger Delta region,” Jaja said.  (Daily Independent)