Mohammed Abacha, son of Sani Abacha, the late former military head of state, has begun the process of challenging a judgment of the court of appeal which dismissed his bid to reclaim ownership Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.
Abacha’s team of lawyers, led by Reuben Atabo, has filed a motion on notice at the court of appeal, seeking leave to formally appeal the May 23 judgment at the supreme court.
Abacha had commenced a suit at the federal high court challenging the reallocation of Malabu’s oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245 oil well to Agip and Shell.
He claims to be the original owner of Malabu but that his name was struck off the register at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) without his knowledge.
Dan Etete, former minister of petroleum resources, was the recognised owner of Malabu when the company sold its interest in OPL 245 to Shell and Agi in 2011.
Agip’s legal team, led by Babatunde Fagbohunlu, filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the federal high court on several grounds, including a claim that the suit was statute-barred, having been filed over five years after the said allocation.
On December 22, 2020, the trial court dismissed Agip’s preliminary objection against Malabu Oil’s case.
Parties then approached the appeal court for redress.
APPEAL COURT JUDGMENT
In a judgment delivered on May 23, 2025, a three-member panel of the appellate court nullified the ruling of the federal high court.
Hamma Akawu Barka, who led the panel of justices, held that the lower court had merely struck out the preliminary objection of Agip without resolving the issues it raised on fair hearing, abuse of court process, and the case being statute-barred.
The judge, in a unanimous three-man judgment, agreed “that the key issues highlighted by Agip were not pronounced upon or resolved by the lower court”.
He resolved this issue in favour of Agip and also held that the court action by Malabu Oil at the lower court was filed outside the three-month timeline stipulated for such matters.
Consequently, the appellate court “set aside” the federal high court’s judgment delivered by Binta Nyako.
THE RACE TO SUPREME COURT
In the motion filed on June 4, Malabu is asking the court of appeal for leave to appeal to the supreme court against the May 23 judgment on the grounds of mixed law and fact.
The motion is also seeking leave to raise new or fresh issues of law in the appeal to the supreme court concerning “grounds 1, 3, 4, 9, 14, 16 and 17 of the proposed notice of appeal”.
Edwin John, who deposed to the affidavit, stated that there are serious questions of law to be tried by the supreme court in the appeal arising from the May 23 judgment.
John further stated that “there is the likelihood and real possibility of the success of the appeal in the supreme court”.
He said it would be in the “interest of justice to grant this motion, especially as the respondents shall not in any way be prejudiced”.
He added that the course of justice would be better served if the motion were granted to enable the applicant to exercise the constitutional right of appeal against the May 23 decision.
John said the applicant would be permanently shut out from exercising the right of appeal if the motion is refused.
THE OPL 245 SAGA
The younger Abacha is laying claim to the ownership of Malabu Oil, the company originally awarded the OPL in 1998 by the late Sani Abacha, his father.
In 2011, Shell and Eni paid $1.1 billion to acquire OPL 245 after Malabu relinquished its entire interest in the oil block.
This followed a settlement brokered by the Nigerian government to end a 10-year legal dispute on the acreage, which is considered to be one of the richest in Africa.
The oil companies also paid a signature bonus of $210 million to the Nigerian government.
However, activists launched an international campaign, alleging that the OPL 245 deal was fraudulent, arguing that the proceeds were used to bribe government officials.
Abacha also claimed that Malabu was not represented in the 2011 resolution agreements between the federal government, Shell Nigeria Ultra-Deep and Nigeria Agip Exploration.(The Cable)
