$9b judgment debt: ‘Why I can’t be heard,’ by ex-AGF Ojo

FORMER Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Bayo Ojo (SAN) has given reasons why he cannot comment on the controversy generated by the $9.6 billion judgment given by a United Kingdom court in favour of an Irish firm, Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) against Nigeria.

Ojo, who was the AGF between July 2005 and July 2007, was part of the three-man arbitration tribunal that heard the case in a location in London, which gave its final decision on January 31, 2017.

The other two members, who are foreigners – Leonard Hoffmann and Anthony Evans – gave the majority decision, held in favour of the P&ID and awarded $6,597,000,000 (to cover the 20 years of the disputed contract) and interest at the rate of 7% from 20 March 2013 until payment. On is part, Ojo disagreed with that position and  gave a dissenting/minority opinion, which held among others, that the firm should only be paid $250million in damages, to cover only three years – 2015 to 2017.

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The ex-AGF told The Nation on Sunday that he was not allowed to comment on the issue because of the role he played.

Ojo said as an arbitrator, he is like a judge, who is not allowed to publicly comment on cases he had been engaged in.

He said: “I am not allowed to speak on the issue. Just like judges, we are not allowed to grant interviews.

“As an arbitrator, we are bound by the confidentiality rules. We cannot comment on cases we were involved in,” Ojo said.