How Ex-CBN Gov, Emefiele Saved Billions Of Dollars For Nigeria – Aondoakaa

A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), has revealed how the immediate-past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, saved billions of dollars for the country.

Aondoakaa noted that the billions saved would have been paid as arbitral awards to a foreign company, Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).

Recall that P&ID had said the contract to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River, failed because the Nigerian government breached the terms of the contract. It secured an arbitral award of $6.6 billion against Nigeria, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at seven percent, which accumulated to $11 billion.

But the United Kingdom Royal Courts of Justice had last week Monday held that the earlier judgment awarded against Nigeria in favour of P&ID was fraudulent.

Delivering judgment in Nigeria’s appeal against the seizure of its assets anywhere in the world in payment of the said debt, Justice Robin Knowles held that P&ID had engaged in fraud, bribery, and concealment of material facts regarding the contract it entered with Nigeria, among others.

Speaking on the ARISE NEWS Channel breakfast programme, ‘The Morning Show,’ Aondoakaa, who was AGF when P&ID agreed with Nigeria in 2010 to build a gas processing plant, said the CBN under Emefiele assisted Nigeria’s legal team in the case instituted against Nigeria in a London court.

He urged the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to look at other fraudulent cases filed against the country.

Aondoakaa said: “This fraud has been exposed, and it gives us a window to look at other similar cases like Ajaokuta and the rest of them that they hurriedly went abroad, got arbitration, and are trying to enforce against Nigeria.

“I, particularly, give credit to the CBN under the then Governor, Godwin Emefiele, because there was strong pressure that settlement should be made. Our team was in the minority, that we must fight till the end. There was also apprehension that if we didn’t settle and the court would now give judgment against us, Nigeria would lose everything. But for them to have confidence in us, there was one man in the CBN, the Director of Legal Services; he gave us the confidence, gave us the support, and ensured that we were able to present to the UK lawyers that this was a fraud. So, I am most grateful. I completely agree with the honourable Attorney General that this is a big fraud.”

Aondoakaa’s comment on how Emefiele and few others resisted pressure also confirmed what presidency sources revealed at the time that many, including top government officials, had mounted pressure on the then President Muhammadu Buhari to approve payment for the award to avoid a heavier penalty if the matter dragged on.

Emefiele was said to have resisted and advised the President strongly against such approval, staking his name in convincing the president that the contract was fraudulent and that the P&ID would fail in court if Nigeria hired competent lawyers.