The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday issued a perpetual prohibition preventing the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from constituting any Special Panel of Investigation to entertain or determine complaints related to oil spillages and oil pollution in Nigeria.
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Justice Okong Abang delivered the unanimous judgment, upholding the appeal filed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) through its counsel, Olurotimi Aju Esq., against an earlier decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja. The case was marked CA/A/864/2018.
The Federal High Court had ruled on March 23, 2018, affirming NHRC’s authority to investigate and issue orders on oil pollution complaints. Dissatisfied, NNPC appealed, urging the Court of Appeal to set aside the lower court’s judgment and restrict NHRC from interfering in such matters.
NNPC’s legal team argued that previous Court of Appeal rulings, notably Barr. Ikechukwu Opara & 3 Ors v. Shell Petroleum Development Company & 5 Ors, established that oil pollution complaints do not constitute fundamental human rights issues and therefore fall outside NHRC’s jurisdiction.
Justice Abang agreed, stressing that under Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the exclusive jurisdiction to make enforceable orders concerning oil spillages and environmental pollution rests solely with the Federal High Court.
He further held that the NHRC and its panels lack judicial authority under the Constitution to handle such matters or compel entities like NNPC to appear before its investigative panels.
The judge condemned the NHRC’s attempt to cloak environmental pollution complaints as fundamental human rights violations, stating this amounted to “violently usurping the constitutional powers of the Federal High Court.”
Consequently, the Court of Appeal nullified the Federal High Court’s judgment and granted the order of prohibition and perpetual injunction restraining the NHRC from proceeding with any special investigations into oil spill complaints.
Justice Abang emphasized the importance of judicial precedent and declared that the lower court erred in failing to follow binding decisions of superior courts.
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