President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the judgment by the UK Court granting Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from sanctions in a $10 billion arbitration case with Process and Industrious Development Limited (P&ID) in Nigeria.
The President in a statement made available to thedabigal on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the judgment was right and just.
The statement also said the judgement provides a strong evidence that the fraudulent gas deal with P&ID and the subsequent judgment debt of $10 billion against Nigeria was a clear attempt by the company to cheat the country.
The statement read “On the arbitration award, it is a source of huge satisfaction that the UK Court, among others, had ruled that:
‘‘Nigeria has established a strong evidential case that the Gas Supply and Processing (GSPA) was secured by bribes paid to insiders as part of a larger means to defraud Nigeria.
‘‘There is also strong evidence that that (P&ID) main witness in the arbitration, Mr Quinn, gave false evidence to the Tribunal, and that contrary to that evidence, P&ID was not in the position to perform the contract.
“Following the development, the President expresses satisfaction with the processes that led to this outcome in the English Court.
“However, this has given relief to the Nigerian government to further protect our national assets from criminally-minded organisations and individuals.
“The views of the UK court thus provide sufficient grounds for the Federal Government to go ahead and challenge the fraudulent actions carried out by the company and overturn the arbitration award.
“The President, therefore, commends the team of lawyers who represented Nigeria in the matter with P&ID.
“He also reassures all well-meaning Nigerians and the international community of his firm commitment to fight corruption in all its forms and manifestation.”
