Court dismisses suit against local oil major by its erstwhile contractors

By Basssey Williams, Yenagoa

A court of competent jurisdiction has struck out the cases  filed against  Aiteo Eastern Exploration Production Company by Mr. Nicholas Ebiye, Johnson Theophilus and ten others over an alleged breach of contracts.

According to a competent legal analyst studying the judgement (attached), Aiteo’s counsel  argued that assuming without conceding that a contract exists, clause 12 of the contract provides for a medium settlement of disputes that may arise between parties stating that such medium is arbitration not court action stressing that court action is always instituted after arbitration has failed as both parties are bound by the agreement.

According to the expert, it is the contractors that will use their discretion and initiate the arbitration and invite Aiteo which he claims Aiteo as a civil stakeholder to its contractors and host communities  would honour  such an invitation.

He condemned what he referred to as a media trial of a simple civic transaction and advised those involved to follow due process by exploring all civic means to resolve whatever conflict they have before blowing it out of proportion as something cannot be put on nothing lest it collapse emphasising that Aiteo is not owing any of the suing contractors.

It will be recalled that the claimants, Mr. Nicholas Ebiye and Johnson Theophilus and ten others filed suits against Aiteo Eastern Exploration Production Company over an alleged injustice and malicious punishment meted out against the Opu-Nembe surveillance contractors. The matter was separately registered in suit numbers NHC/1/2020 to NHC/12/2020 in a Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Nembe over an alleged breach of contracts. All judgements have been received and reviewed by this reporter as at press time. All efforts to reach Aiteo’s spokesman, Mr Ndiana Matthew proved abortive at the time this report was published.