The scheduled hearing in the lawsuit filed by E-Customs HC Project Limited and Bionica Technologies Limited against the Federal Government faced an unexpected delay due to a legal representation dispute.
The suit, which involves several government entities as defendants, including the Federal Government, Attorney-General of the Federation, Finance Minister, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Trade Modernization Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Limited, African Finance Corporation, and Bergman Security Consultant and Supply Limited, is a challenge to the alleged unlawful modifications made to a concession agreement by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) under the former Comptroller General, Col. Ahmed Ali (rtd).
During the court proceedings before Justice Inyang Ekwo, a new counsel, Pius Nnoli, unexpectedly appeared on behalf of E-Customs HC Project Limited, challenging the representation by the senior lawyer, Ahmed Raji SAN.
The attempt by Nnoli to take over the case was met with strong opposition from Ahmed Raji, who claimed to be the lawful counsel engaged by the company.
The legal dispute encountered a hiccup when Nnoli informed Justice Ekwo that the senior lawyer had filed a voluminous counter affidavit against his representation. He requested a short adjournment to respond and present the legal instruments by which he was engaged by his client.
Upon inquiry by the court, Raji SAN confirmed that Nnoli was served with the counter affidavit in the courtroom, validating his participation in the case.
Justice Ekwo decided to grant Nnoli time to respond to the counter affidavit and, with no objections from the lawyers involved, adjourned the hearing in the case until Thursday, October 26, 2023.
The two aggrieved companies, E-Customs HC Project Limited and Bionica Technologies (West Africa) Limited, jointly filed the lawsuit to challenge the alleged unlawful and fraudulent concession of the E-custom project to African Finance Corporation.
They narrated how they had initially proposed a custom modernization project for the benefit of the Nigeria Customs Service, which received anticipated approval from President Muhammadu Buhari on September 2, 2020.
However, issues arose when the Nigeria Customs Service unilaterally reviewed the Federal Executive Council approval and imposed various conditions, including shareholding and governance structure.
The companies argued that the NCS’s authority to unilaterally review the FEC’s approval was contested but to no avail.
To their surprise, they discovered that the Nigeria Customs Service had executed a concession agreement with an unknown company, Trade Modernization Project, Huawei Technologies Company, and African Finance Corporation, in total breach of the memorandum of understanding prepared by the Attorney-General of the Federation in conjunction with the Finance Minister.
The plaintiffs contended that Trade Modernization Project was incorporated in April 2022 and could not have obtained the necessary approvals and certificates for the E-Customs Project.
They sought the court’s declaration that the government’s decision to enter into a concession agreement with Trade Modernization Project, Huawei Technologies Company, and African Finance Corporation was illegal and in violation of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act 2005.
The companies also sought a declaration that E-Customs HC Project Limited was the rightful concessionaire approved by the Federal Executive Council in September 2020, in accordance with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Act.
Additionally, they requested the court to direct the Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Finance Minister, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and Nigeria Customs Service to consummate the E-Customs Project with the 1st plaintiff, as approved by the FEC.
Finally, the two plaintiffs demanded that the court compel the defendants to pay them a sum of two hundred million naira as the cost of litigation.
