The lawyer that represented Nigeria in the initial legal battle involving P and ID In London, Olasupo Shasore says he is relieved that the corrupt and fraudulent foundation of the contract was affirmed in friday’s judgment granting Nigeria’s applications for extension of time to appeal and relief form sanctions.
But he is disappointed that part of the case made for that result was a case against him based on what he called, demonstrably false statements, unfounded innuendoes and spiteful personal attacks’ on his professional conduct and reputation.
The former attorney general of Lagos State added that he made every effort to defend and vindicate his client at every stage with very few tools and with minimal support from within the government itself, representing Nigeria up until the liability stage in the arbitration.
He says he did not represent Nigeria in the damages stage of the arbitration, and so was not involved when the huge sum of damages was awarded against Nigeria.
According to him, he filed a jurisdiction objection that potentially could and should indeed have terminated the case in favour of Nigeria because it was clear from the beginning that the contract was a scheme against Nigeria.
“We faced a hostile tribunal, which relied on the testimony of a principal witness who had died before the hearing and whose testimony should have been discounted,
“The legal fees paid was payment to two law firms and not exceptional or unusual in the context of such a dispute, it was from these fees that expenses were paid to ensure attendance at hearings and meetings in the UK by witnesses for Nigeria” Mr Shasore said.
On January 11, 2010, P&ID, a British firm, signed a gas supply and processing agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on behalf of the Nigerian government.
Going by the provisions of the agreement, the foreign company was expected to build and operate an Accelerated Gas Development project to be located at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State.
On the other hand, the Nigerian government was to provide natural gas from oil mining leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 operated by Addax Petroleum and supply to P&ID to refine into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.
An initial volume of about 150 million cubic feet of gas per day was expected to be supplied by Nigeria. Eventually, it was to be summed up to about 400 million cubic feet per day during the 20-year period.
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