The Court of Appeal has re-affirmed a judgement by a Rivers State High Court ordering multinational oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to forfeit ownership of the land hosting its biggest export terminal in the country located in Bonny Island.

The appellate court panel led by Justice Sulieman Galadima and Istifanus Thomas and Ejembi Oko in a unanimous decision, did not only uphold the judgement of the lower court, but also dismissed the appeal filed by Shell describing it as, “ substantially lacking merit”.

Condemning the oil giant for going behind the indigenes to obtain a certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in respect of the same land from the Rivers State government without the consent and knowledge of the land owners, it noted that Shell reneged on the agreement and used the land without consulting the original land owners.

The land which houses the company’s Bonny terminal is currently with a capacity of over 12 million barrel of crude oil storage, the biggest in the country.

But the court noted that Shell by an agreement dated July 22, 1958 entered into between the Bonny land owners, represented by Chief Henry Brown and Chief Victor Jumbo agreed to use the land at a rent of more than two Nigeria pounds.

The rent became payable yearly since 1962, but the oil conglomerate, in March 1998 swiftly obtained a C of O and hence became the landlord rather than a tenant.

However, Shell’s trouble started when counsel to the Bonny people, Mr Lucius Nwaosu uncovered the shady deal after an  inquest.

Dissatisfied with the judgement of a high court in 2008, Shell had appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt but the court has now dismissed the appeal, saying that it lacked merit.

The court further set aside the certificate of Occupancy ordering the oil giant to forfeit the land, which was the subject matter of the suit.