Prince Ned Nwoko and Mr. Femi Falana (SAN)
BY OUR REPORTER
Prince Ned Nwoko’s company, Linas International Limited has floored Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) who represented the Governors’ Forum in a suit that has to do with the Paris Club Refund.
A Federal High Court Chief Judge rejects the application by Femi Falana SAN acting for the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on behalf of the State Governments for permission to appeal the judgment of the court which gave rise to the Paris Club refunds to the Local Governments which the court delivered in 2013.
It is no longer news that the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), a pressure group claiming to be suing on behalf of the 36 States of the Federation, on the 15th of June, 2021 filed a motion on Notice at the Federal High Court in Abuja before the Honourable Justice Tsoho Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, against a seven (7) year old judgment of the same Court in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013, which same judgment was affirmed and upheld by the Court of Appeal regarding the Paris and London Club refunds. The NGF’s lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN filed the motion which sought for leave to appeal the said judgment, after 7 years. On the 1st December, 2021, the Federal High Court coram Hon. Justice Tsoho in his Ruling, dismissed the Application of the NGF in its entirety.
The parties in the motion filed by NGF are:
Linas International Ltd ( a company owned by Prince Ned Munir Nwoko) and 235 Local Governments of Nigeria as Plaintiffs/Respondents while the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation as Defendants/Respondents.
The said seven year old judgment which was upheld by the Court of Appeal, that NGF sought to oppose is a judgment that was obtained on behalf of all the 774 Local Governments and Area Councils of Nigeria. The said judgment ordered the Federal Government to refund to all the Local Governments the monies that were erroneously deducted from their share in the Federation Account by the Federal Government of Nigeria and used to service accrued foreign debts.
The NGF claimed that they were not made parties to the suit at commencement at the trial court and hence need to appeal against same as the decision of the court in the suit affected them, especially the 20% of the Judgment sum in favour of the Local Governments awarded as consultancy fee to its Consultant; Linas International Ltd. They anchored their contention on the constitutional provision that prescribed that local government funds should be paid into a joint account and argued that as the custodians of the funds they ought to be joined in the case at the trial court.
They also sought for an injunction and stay of execution and enforcement of the Judgment, seeking to stop the Debt Management Office from issuing Promissory Notes approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to Prince Ned Munir Nwoko and other creditors.
The Honorables, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Finance both objected to the application of NGF on the following grounds:
That the said judgment that NGF sought to appeal has been fully executed by the Paris Club Refund by the Federal Government to all the 774 Local Governments of Nigeria and their consultant, Linas International Limited. Secondly, that the NGF is not an aggrieved party and not affected by the judgment it seeks to appeal against.
They therefore urged the Court to dismiss the application of NGF for lack of jurisdiction, lapse of time, being an abuse of court process and a total waste of the time of the Federal High Court.
Hon. Justice Tsoho upheld the objections of the AGF and Minister of Finance and dismissed the NGF’s application for being incompetent.
In addition to the points raised by the AGF and Minister of Finance, including that of lapse of time, the Plaintiffs/Respondents; Linas International Ltd and the Local Governments and Area Councils also filed an objection to the application of the NGF and claimed the following:
That the States Government of the Federation are also beneficiaries of the same judgment they sought to appeal against as they have been receiving payments from the Federal Government as a result of the Judgment sum obtained in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013. Hence NGF cannot claim to be aggrieved 7 years later after benefiting from the same Judgment sum nor claim to be unaware of the said judgment after 7 years as their reason for seeking to appeal against it now.
That the NGF cannot claim any grievance by the Judgment as the said Judgment has not deprived them of something or wrongfully affected its title to something. That because their major complaint for coming to Court is about the award of 20% of the total judgment sum due to the Local Governments to Linas International Ltd as Consultancy fee. That the percentage was a contractually agreed fee between the Local Governments and Linas International Ltd as their consultant and hence NGF cannot litigate on the agreed percentage, not being a party to the Contract under the privity of contract.
That the NGF is a pressure group and known for being a meddlesome interloper and a busy body who usurps the powers of the Honourable Attorneys General of the States of the Federation.
They also brought to the attention of the Judge that the NGF’s current lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, who sought to appeal against the judgment, is also Lawyer to the Local Governments seeking to enforce the same judgment in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 which now seeks to appeal against on behalf of the NGF.
Our investigation has unearthed incontrovertible evidence of how in 2019, the new leadership of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) issued a letter of instruction to Femi Falana, SAN to recover from the State Governments the Paris Club refunds which the Federal Government paid to all the 774 Local Governments and Area Councils based in the judgment of the Federal High Court Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 but which the state governments did not pay into the joint state and local government accounts for receiving local government allocation from the Federation Account. Instead the monies were hijacked and diverted through other accounts. Following his instruction, Femi Falana, SAN wrote letters to the Honourable Minister of Finance accusing the State Governors of misappropriation of monies refunded through them. And since then, the Federal Government through the office of the Minister of Finance have been in discussion with Femi Falana and considering Falana’s representation to deduct the said sum from the State Governments Share in the Federation accounts.
ALGON’s fee percentage offer to Falana in their letter of instruction is 10% of sums recovered from State Governments account which is the sum from the refunds made by the Federal Government as a result of the Judgment sum that Linas International Limited/Prince Ned Nwoko worked for on behalf of Local Governments for a fee of 20% of judgment sum recovered.
The summary of the foregoing is that the Federal Government utilized local government funds to pay off debts which local governments did not borrow. These funds were recovered for them by Linas International Limited/Prince Ned Nwoko who alerted the local and state governments of the unlawful utilization of funds and excess charges respectively resulting in loss of revenue accrual from the Federation Account. When the utilized funds were eventually refunded by the Federal Government owing to the efforts of Linas International Limited, the state governments hijacked the funds and seeks to divert attention to the consultancy fee by bringing the frivolous application which the court rightly dismissed.
The foregoing facts of this subject matter lays bare the cascade of betrayals, from the Federal Government to the State Governments, against the local governments in which the intervener whose vision and doggedness secured a vital lifeline for the local governments is unnecessarily being hounded by those who seek to obtain unmerited benefits.
Now recently, last year in September, 2021, Femi Falana now also acting as NGF’s lawyer wrote a letter to the same Ministry of Finance urging them to withdraw the payment directive to creditors including Prince Ned Nwoko as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari as he said it was in disregard for their (NGF’s) appeals and motions challenging the indebtedness. The said letter was published by many online and newspaper media platforms where Femi Falana raised issues about Prince Ned Nwoko and his matters with the NGF regarding another case. The curious question is, can Mr. Falana act for local governments attacking the state governments over the enforcement of Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 and also act for the state governments on the Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 raising questions about parts of the same judgment. It is evident that Mr. Falana SAN has not adverted his mind to these facts.
Furthermore, Mr. Femi Falana who is asking for 10% of a judgment sum as professional fees for the funds refunded to local governments is also acting for the NGF to question the consultancy fee of the company/person whose work and efforts secured the judgment sum from which he expects to be paid the 10%. This needless expenditure is a huge drain on the funds already recovered for local governments which could have been avoided by requesting the consultant who undertook the recovery to also undertake the task of challenging the NGF under the existing consultancy.
Prince Ned Nwoko in a complaint letter to Femi Falana challenged the actions of Femi Falana as one unbecoming of a Legal Practitioner as he is acting as a double agent; first for Local Governments in favour of the judgment and now for NGF challenging the same judgment. Nwoko clearly wrote that Femi Falana while relying on the same judgment in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/130/2013 which he now challenges, cannot as lawyer to the Local Governments, write letters to the Minister of Finance accusing the State Governors of squandering the refunded judgment sum of about $3.1 Billion in favour of Local Governments. Yet he, Femi Falana now seeks to represent the same State Governors in seeking for a Court Order to set aside the same judgment sum, thereby acting for the State Governments against Paris and London Club refunds and consequently challenging Prince Ned Nwoko’s 20% consultancy fee. Prince Ned Nwoko also stated in the letter to Femi Falana that his action is a clear conflict of interest and a senior lawyer like him should not ignore same.
In December, 2021, the Federal High Court coram Hon. Justice Tsoho agreed with all the points of objection of all the Respondents and resolved all the issues raised as follows:
That the NGF is merely a pressure group for the States Governors, hence is not a party to the suit nor has suffered any grievance. Also that they were unable to give any reason for waiting for 7 years before applying to appeal the judgment of the Court.
That the judgement has already been enforced and judgement payments effected by the Federal Government, to which NGF admitted to, hence an application for stay of execution is was refused by the Court.
Finally, the Honourable Justice Tsoho dismissed the application of NGF and deemed it failed in its entirety.
