Rivers
We Are Now Ripe For A Kingdom, Igbu Orlukwo People Tell Monarch
The people of Igbu Orlukwo Kingdom in Ahoada- East Local Government Area of Rivers State, say their community is now ripe enough to settle as a Kingdom, having existed for over 60 years as a people.
They dropped this hint yesterday during a special courtesy visit to the Eze Ekpeye Logbo, HRM (Dr) Kelvin Ngozi Anugwo at his palace in Ula Upata.
A statement signed by the head of Media and Publicity of the Igbu Orlukwo Palace, Comrade Jonathan Abraham indicated that the people of Igbu Orlukwo community trooped to the palace of the Eze Ekpeye Logbo in their numbers and notified the monarch that the community was now ready to settle as a Kingdom in Ekpeye ethnic nationality.
Speaking on behalf of the people, the Regent of Igbu Orlukwo community, HRH Eze Frederick B. Uwame told the monarch that the community has come of age, having existed for over 60 years, to attain the status of a Kingdom, and actually chronicled how the people have been peaceful and law-abiding over these years.
In his response, the Eze Ekpeye Logbo, HRM(Dr) Kelvin Ngozi Anugwo thanked the people of Igbu Orlukwo community for the visit and also for narrating the history of the community, and expressed delight over the way they are going about their demand and request peacefully.
The monarch, according to the statement, also told them that the Supreme Council of Ekpeye Logbo would meet to look into the issue and address it once and for all, having heard from them.
The Ada( Igbu Orlukwo), Chief Hope Nwoka , on his part, thanked the monarch for the warm reception accorded the people , and equally for the opportunity given to them to visit his palace.
The statement also indicated that the people of Igbu Orlukwo community visited the Eze Ekpeye Logbo as the supreme monarch in full capacity, comprising stakeholders, elders, youths, women and other dignitaries.
Rivers
Macobarb CEO Cries Out, Says No Indigenous Contractor Can Win Case Against NLNG Or Oil Majors in Nigerian Courts …As Justice Nwogu Throws Out Macobarb’s N5.74bn Claim
Justice Chinwendu Nwogu of the Port Harcourt High Court has thrown out the N5.74bn claim filed by Macobarb, an indigenous contractor, against the NLNG for breach of contract and accumulated losses.
Shedrack Ogboru, the CEO of Macobarb International Limited, who filed the claims since 2022 as one of the claimants, in suit number HC/2013/CS/2022, has however cried out, saying the fate of indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts is doomed.
Ogboru told newsmen outside the court after the shock ruling that the judge abandoned the crux of the matter and the terms of the contract to deny Macobarb the claims.
Showing anger and frustration, Ogboru said he felt he presented tight case to the court to show that the NLNG breached terms of payments and that the breaches caused slowdown of the execution of the contract, but regretted that the judge did not agree with any of his arguments.
Saying many indigenous contractors have died as a result of injustices in the hands of the oil majors, he said only abroad do communities and local contractors get some form of justice, never in Nigeria.
Justice Nwogu had ruled that the NLNG did not breach its contract with the contractor and that the gas company did not unlawfully deny Macobarb payments.
The judge said work executed by Macobarb did not amount to ‘work done’ as stated in the contract terms except the NLNG approved it as so, and that the provision mandating the person recognized as ‘contract holder’ nominated by the NLNG as the one to authorize any dealings with the contractor did not mean that he alone could act for the NLNG as relied upon by the contractor. The judge ruled that the ‘contract holder’ was a mere day to day overseer of the project, and that any official mandated by the NLNG can terminate the contract.
The judge also ruled that the contract did not provide for ‘standdown payment’ and that the NLNG did not cause delays in the execution of the contract as claimed by the contractor.
The judge also ruled that the payment failures by the NLNG that the contractor claimed affected the contract did not amount to an offence or breach of the contract but that the contractor misused the loan he obtained from banks.
In the end, the judge ruled in favour of almost all the grounds submitted by the NLNG and none of the grounds by the contractor, and even tongue-lashed the contractor in most of his rulings.
Reacting, Ogboru said: “My case is presented 100 per cent, the NLNG’s case is zero; but surprisingly, the NLNG has rather been upheld, and Macobarb denied. I pity indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts. We are doomed.”