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EFCC Warned of Forfeiting Cross-Examination Right in N152m Dispute

EFCC Warned of Forfeiting Cross-Examination Right in N152m Dispute

Wale Igbintade

Justice Akingbola George of the Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafa Balewa Square yesterday issued a stern warning to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), threatening to foreclose its right to cross-examine a key witness in an ongoing N152 million property dispute.

The claimants, Mr. Olukayode Olusanya, and his company, Oak Homes Limited, filed the suit (LD/4471LM/2023) against a Nigerian-American engineer, Mr. Anthony Ugbebor (1st defendant), and the EFCC (2nd defendant), over a failed property transaction.

At the last hearing on June 20, 2025, Olusanya, a property developer and CEO of Oak Homes, testified that his company failed to deliver two three-bedroom apartments at Oak Residence, Victoria Island, to Ugbebor as agreed. 

He revealed the apartments were later sold on EFCC’s instructions, without Ugbebor’s authorisation. He further claimed the EFCC directed him to refund N152 million to the first defendant.

EFCC counsel, Mr. M.A. Sheu, who was scheduled to cross-examine the witness, had sought an adjournment at the time, citing ill health and inadequate time to review the case file.

When the matter resumed yesterday, EFCC counsel, Mr. E.S. Okondu, informed the court he was unprepared to proceed. 

He explained that he had only been notified of the case that morning while attending another matter at the Federal High Court and had no access to the case file.

“This is my first time appearing in this matter. I was informed this morning and rushed down here after concluding another matter. I apologise sincerely to the learned silk and my learned friend for the first defendant,” Okondu said.

He added that the only document in his possession was a two-page statement of defence, which he obtained moments before the proceedings began. 

He emphasised that he was merely standing in for the counsel on record and was unaware of the latter’s absence.

Responding, claimant’s counsel, Mr. Adeleke Agboola, SAN, urged Okondu to be direct in seeking an adjournment adding that any further delay would not be tolerated.

“Counsel should be direct in asking for an adjournment. I will not be asking for costs today because he is not the counsel on record.

 However, if the EFCC fails to proceed at the next date, I will ask for costs,” Agboola said.

Counsel to the first defendant, Mr. I.B. Mamuhood, said he would not oppose the EFCC’s request for an adjournment.

Justice George subsequently adjourned the matter to July 8, 2025, but issued a strong warning, saying: “If the EFCC fails to conduct its cross-examination of Mr. Olusanya on that date, it will forfeit its right to do so.”

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Wale Igbintade Justice Akingbola George of the Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafa Balewa Square yesterday issued a stern warning to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), threatening

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Why We Took SPDC, AGF, FG Agencies to Court, Ekpetiama Kingdom Explains

Why We Took SPDC, AGF, FG Agencies to Court, Ekpetiama Kingdom Explains

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The people of Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State have explained why a case was instituted against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

A landmark legal action had been instituted by His Royal Majesty, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV of Ekpetiama Kingdom, and the people of Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State against SPDC, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Attorney General of the Federation at the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, on June 20, 2024, with the full hearing scheduled to begin on July 22, 2025.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, a conglomerate of civil society organisations, including the International Working Group on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta (IWG), Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Social Action Nigeria, and legal advocates said that they are united in a common cause to demand justice for oil and gas bearing communities of the Niger Delta, who have endured over six decades of pollution, exploitation, and neglect.

They explained that the plaintiffs, led by HRM King Dakolo, are seeking a judicial declaration that Shell’s purported divestment from onshore assets in the Niger Delta violates the Nigerian law, including the Petroleum Industry Act (2021) and relevant constitutional provisions protecting the right to life, human dignity, and the right to a clean and healthy environment.

They disclosed that among the key claims made in the suit are: ‘That Shell and its corporate affiliates have caused catastrophic environmental damage, destroyed livelihoods, and harmed the health of community members through un-remediated oil spills, gas flaring, and the abandonment of toxic infrastructure in the Gbarain oil fields, located within the Ekpetiama Kingdom; That Shell’s proposed sale of its 30 percent stake in SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited and other buyers is being conducted without fulfilling its legal obligations to decommission facilities, restore impacted sites, and compensate affected communities.

“Also, that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and other state actors have failed in their statutory duties to protect host communities, and instead facilitated a divestment process that shifts environmental and financial liabilities onto the Nigerian state and its people, rather than making the polluter to pay.”

The plaintiffs are asking the court for: A declaration that the divestment is unlawful; an injunction restraining Shell and its successors from finalising the transaction until legal obligations are met; and an order compelling the government and regulatory agencies to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities to uphold environmental and human rights.

On his part, the Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, said: “The Niger Delta has long been a brutalised sacrifice zone for fossil fuel colonialism. For more than 70 years, transnational oil companies, led by Shell, have extracted wealth from our lands and waters, leaving behind poisoned creeks, flaring skies, and broken lives.

“Ekpetiama is one of many communities that have become crime scenes of ecological warfare. This lawsuit is not simply about a community asserting its rights-it is about resisting annihilation.”

He added that: “At Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), we hold that true justice must begin with the recognition that the environment is not a passive backdrop. It is life itself. A just transition must therefore start with healing the wounds of exploitation, ensuring that polluters do not run away but pay up, clean up, and restore what they have destroyed.

“The findings of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC) make the situation painfully clear: Shell’s legacy is one of death zones, toxic exposure, loss of livelihoods, and denial of dignity. That is why we stand in unwavering solidarity with His Royal Majesty King Bubaraye Dakolo and the people of Ekpetiama.

“We call on the Nigerian state and the international community to reject Shell’s attempts to escape justice and to affirm that environmental crimes must be met with uncompromising accountability.”

King Bubaraye Dakolo, the Agada IV of Ekpetiama Kingdom, who is the chair of the Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, in his assertion, said: “This case is not just about me or my kingdom, it is about justice for the entire Niger Delta. But allow me to speak from personal experience of the gas flares from the Gbarain Gas Plant that blaze day and night just outside my window. I live with the constant light that has obliterated the night, the noise, and the poison in the air. My people drink from polluted streams and farmlands laced with crude oil. Our children breathe soot. Our people now suffer from cancers and unexplained diseases that were unknown before advent of oil.

“We have been treated as collateral damage in the ruthless pursuit of oil wealth. Our lands are poisoned, our rivers destroyed, and our people silenced. The realities have been documented in the report of international experts who were part of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC).”

He noted that the commission revealed that Bayelsa State suffers from some of the worst oil pollution levels in the world, resulting from the operations of Shell and other international oil companies. Over 1.5 million people in Bayelsa State are impacted by hydrocarbon pollution; communities have been exposed to chromium, benzene and other cancer-causing chemicals far exceeding World Health Organisation safety limits; and oil spills have contaminated nearly all primary water sources, forcing residents to rely on visibly polluted creeks and ponds, he stated.

It also showed that soil samples revealed extremely high levels of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), rendering lands unfit for agriculture; air quality measurements near Shell facilities recorded particulate matter and soot far above permissible health thresholds; in some communities, fish stocks have declined by over 70%, impacting food security and livelihoods; Shell and other oil companies have failed to carry out proper decommissioning and cleanup, leaving rusting, leaking pipelines and abandoned wellheads that continue to pollute; and environmental justice for victims continues to be a mirage, as mechanisms for legal redress fail to hold Shell and other oil companies accountable for the environmental genocide meted out on the people of Bayelsa State.

The paramount ruler lamented that: “Shell operated in my kingdom with reckless disregard for life, law, and legacy. Now they want to walk away, sell off their assets, and evade responsibility. We say no. We demand justice. This lawsuit is a cry for recognition, reparation, and restoration.

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians, international observers, and justice-seeking people everywhere to follow this case closely. Let Shell know that the Niger Delta is not for sale.”

The lead counsel for the Plaintiffs, chuks Uguru, said: “We have commenced legal action against SPDC, Shell Corporation, Renaissance Group, and federal agents over the unlawful divestment of oil assets in Ekpetiama Kingdom. Shell seeks to relinquish its assets and exit its decades-long operations in the region without addressing its environmental liabilities, in violation of Nigerian environmental laws and international standards.

“The right to a clean and healthy environment is a fundamental human right under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Communities have endured loss of livelihoods, health impacts, and irreversible ecological damage.

“This suit demands that the divestment process be halted until full environmental remediation, decommissioning of obsolete infrastructure, and compensation to affected communities are carried out. We trust that the Federal High Court will act to uphold justice, enforce the rule of law, and protect the rights of the people of Ekpetiama and the entire Niger Delta.”

The Programme Manager, Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action Nigeria), Dr. Prince Edegbuo, on his part, said: “For nearly two decades, Social Action Nigeria has worked closely with frontline communities in the Niger Delta to expose systemic environmental and social injustices perpetrated by multinational oil companies. The story of the Ekpetiama Kingdom is emblematic of the broader experience of communities across the region whose lands have been sacrificed on the altar of fossil fuel extraction.

“In this case, we see an opportunity to shift the narrative away from impunity and denial toward accountability, redress, and repair. We must redefine what energy transition means for those who have borne the costs of extraction.

“Social Action Nigeria is proud to stand with the Ekpetiama people and other impacted communities. We support their legal challenge and broader struggle for recognition and restitution.

Nigeria must rise above capture by vested interest. Our systems of justice and governance must serve the people, not just a few corporate profiteers and their enablers.

“We urge the judiciary, civil society, and the broader public to view this case as a watershed moment. Let it mark the beginning of an era where they lived condition of Nigerian citizens matter.”

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Michael Olugbode in Abuja The people of Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State have explained why a case was instituted against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the