Manny Ita –
Developers of the Enyimba Economic City project have said an arbitration tribunal declared the Abia State Government’s threatened withdrawal of the project’s Certificate of Occupancy and the attempted seizure of 929.87 hectares of land unlawful.
In a statement, the developers said both the majority and dissenting rulings of the tribunal rejected the government’s move to take over the land allocated to the project.
“Of both the Majority and Dissenting Ruling are CAPITAL NO. Therefore, the threatened withdrawal of the Certificate of Occupancy of Enyimba Economic City by Abia State Government and attempted seizure of 929.87 hectares of land of Enyimba Economic City are declared unlawful, null and void by both the Majority and Dissenting rulings,” the statement said.
The developers said the outcome of the arbitration should reassure partners and investors locally and internationally about the legal status of the project.
“This fact, therefore, is beyond spinning and we urge our partners, investors, locally and internationally to take these as the true position of the outcome of the Arbitration between us and Abia State Government,” the statement added.
They acknowledged that the Abia State Government paid ₦400 million as part of its equity contribution to the project company, Enyimba Economic City Development Company FZE, noting that the payment represented a fraction of its ₦3 billion commitment, which constituted six per cent of the ₦50 billion capitalization of the project.
“Of course, Abia State Government paid 400 million Naira out of 3 Billion Naira of their 6% share of 50 Billion Naira capitalization of the project company, Enyimba Economic City Development Company FZE. At no time did we deny that, at no time did Abia State Government ask for refund or repudiation of its investment in the project, nor did the Government plead the refund in their amended Statement of Defense and Counter Claims of September 25, 2024,” the developers said.
They also stated that the state government was actively involved in the project from the outset and had representation on the company’s board through Mr. Chinenye Nwaogu.
According to the statement, former Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, participated in several engagements related to the project both within and outside Nigeria.
“It is a notorious fact that Abia State Government was represented on the Board of the project from day one by Mr Chinenye Nwaogu. The then Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu attended all major engagements on the project locally and internationally including more than 3 trips to China, 2 trips to Dubai Ports, World for meetings, 3 trips to Afreximbank in Egypt etc. with us,” the statement said.
The developers said the majority ruling applied what it described as the “Resulting Trust Theory” and directed them to refund the ₦400 million paid by the state government for its shares in the project.
“By what the Majority Ruling described as ‘Resulting Trust Theory’ in law, it ordered us to refund the 400 million Naira deposit made on Abia State Government shares of 3 Billion Naira to the Government,” they said.
They added that their lawyers had been consulted regarding the order and other aspects of the majority decision which they described as inconsistent.
According to the statement, the dissenting ruling rejected the order and instead awarded the developers damages of ₦15 billion out of the $50 million they sought in compensation for investments made in the project since 2017.
“It is noteworthy however, that the Dissenting Ruling dismissed that order and all other inconsistencies and awarded us damages of 15 Billion Naira of the $50 Million we requested for, considering the investment we have made on the project starting from 2017, interest payments on investment and loss of income for which our Expert Witness calculated and defended at the Tribunal at $501.580 million for which Abia State Government did not dispute,” the statement said.
The developers said they had avoided public exchanges with the Abia State Government over the dispute because they hoped relations would improve.
“In conclusion, we restate that we have all along avoided engaging Abia State Government on war of words on social media on the project because we had hoped that by some miracle that Abia State Government may one day see us as partners in progress and realize that our efforts are laudable and geared towards the growth of the state, the Region and the Nation,” the statement said.
They added that they initially believed the dispute may have been influenced by tensions between the current state administration and its predecessor.
“Besides, we initially considered ourselves possibly an unfair victim of lack of love between current Abia State Government and its predecessor.”
The developers concluded by expressing confidence that the matter would ultimately be resolved in their favour.
“In closing, we believe that in the end, justice will prevail.”
