Court rules dispute is contractual, not an admiralty matter, sets aside Appeal Court judgment.
The Supreme Court has ordered the immediate release of crude oil aboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni to General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL), holding that the dispute between the company and First Bank of Nigeria is contractual in nature and does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court as an admiralty matter.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court allowed General Hydrocarbons’ appeal and set aside the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal.
The panel, comprising Justices Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel A. Agim, Tijjani Abubakar and Habeeb Adewale Abiru, held that the lower courts lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case as an admiralty dispute.
The Supreme Court consequently directed the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal and the Admiralty Marshal to immediately hand over the crude oil aboard the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to General Hydrocarbons Limited without further delay.
The ruling overturns previous orders made in the legal dispute between General Hydrocarbons Limited and First Bank of Nigeria over the ownership and control of the crude cargo aboard the FPSO Tamara Tokoni.
The apex court’s decision effectively ends the admiralty proceedings, affirming that the matter should be treated as a contractual dispute rather than one falling under Nigeria’s admiralty jurisdiction.
The judgment marks a significant legal victory for General Hydrocarbons Limited in its long-running dispute with First Bank over the crude cargo and related contractual obligations.
