Senate Summons SPDC Over Alleged Contract Breach

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions yesterday summoned the management of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over an alleged breach of contract involving the oil firm and Messrs Omire and Associates.

The Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, gave the order when the matter came up for hearing during the sitting of his Committee.

Lawyers to Messrs Omire and Associates, Mr. K.K. Peters had in a petition to the Senate alleged that the multinational oil corporation refused to pay his client’s service charge for its contractual dues in respect of contracts NGO1001316 (A28) and NGO1003128 (A29) awarded to his client in 2008.

He also alleged that the SPDC short-paid his client for three years by converting his payments from Dollar to Naira and that all entreaties made to the Company to be paid fell on deaf ears.

He requested that the Senate should look into the matter and direct the SPDC to among other things, pay his client N335,070,000 and $5,942,000 being the cost of the contract from 2009 to date.

The lawyers of the petitioner and SPDC were invited to appear before the Committee on October 18,  2022..

The lawyer appeared but did not make a presentation because SPDC did not show up. Both parties were thereafter re -invited to appear before the Committee yesterday but only the lawyer was there.

Akinyelure said lawyers to the SPDC had said the case was in court and would therefore not appear before the Senate panel.

He said the SPDC claimed that it had secured a Court judgment barring the National Assembly from entertaining the case.

He said, “We hereby ruled that the court papers should be made available to the Committee before Friday.

We want to see the content of the judgement.

“A Court had earlier ruled against SPDC and asked it to pay the man. Since then, they have been dodging the man.

“We are also probing the claims by the SPDC lawyers who claimed that the man had signed necessary documents to accept settlement. That is why the SPDC management must come.

“They claimed that the petitioner had agreed to collect $11, 800 and N1. 06m as full and final settlement.

“When the SPDC lawyers brought the settlement agreement before us, the petitioner disowned it, claiming that his signature was forged.”