By Ken Afor
The Supreme Court has ordered the immediate past Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alexander Okoh, to pay a fine of N10 million for contempt.
Recall that in January 8, Okoh, who was dismissed by President Bola Tinubu, was sentenced to prison by the lower courts, and this sentence was upheld by the apex court.
Details indicate that the former BPE boss allegedly did not transfer ownership of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria to BFIG Group Corporation.
This stems from a 2004 advertisement by the BPE, inviting bids for the sale of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.
Reportedly, BFIG won the bid, and the government agency issued a notice letter to the company on June 17, 2006.
Interestingly, the government agency canceled the bid result, leading to a prolonged legal battle between it and the company, BFIG.
After losing the case in the lower courts, BFIG appealed the judgment in 2012, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the company.
The apex court instructed BPE to reverse its decision and transfer ownership of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria to BFIG.
However, the government agency failed to comply with the court’s order.
In 2019, BFIG filed a contempt of court case against BPE and its former boss, Okoh. The court ruled that Okoh be remanded in prison for one month due to his disobedience and improper conduct.
In December 2019, BPE sought a stay of execution of the sentence against Okoh from the Court of Appeal, but the court rejected the appeal, upholding the decision of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The matter was then taken to the apex court, and in its judgment delivered last Friday by Justice Tijani Abubakar, the Supreme Court criticized BPE and Okoh for their continued disobedience on the matter, describing it as “scandalously shameful and disgraceful.”
According to the judge, “The above application leaves no one in doubt that the appellant disobeyed the other of this court, especially the order that restrained the appellants or their agents from reselling, negotiating, or transferring the company. This is a flagrant disobedience to the order of this court.
“Court orders are meant to be obeyed and must be obeyed. The appellants treated the order of this court with total disdain and disrespect. The conduct of the appellants is scandalously shameful and disgraceful.
“Agencies of government must respect the law. Nobody in this country is above the law. The appellants are not to choose the order of the court to obey or not. For this reason, I resolve the issues against the appellants.
“This appeal deserves to be dismissed, and it is thereby dismissed. The judgement of the appeal court is affirmed. The cost of N10m is awarded against the appellants. The cost is to be paid personally by the second appellant (Okoh) in addition to going to prison.”
