Nospetco Investors Protest Delayed Case at Supreme Court, Seek CJN's Intervention

A group of investors in Nospecto Oil and Gas Ltd, numbering about 13,000, have decried the continuous delay in the hearing of their case, which, they claimed, has been pending before the Supreme Court for over five years.

The group staged a protest to the Television Continental office in Lagos last weekend, calling on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen, to intervene in their case and direct the expeditious hearing of the case.

Speaking during the protest, the National President of the group, Prince Emmanuel Matiluko, said it has been eleven agonising and painful years that they have been trying to collect their money back from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), having confirmed that the money is in its custody, but awaiting awaiting the court order to release it.

Matiluko noted that majority of the aggrieved investors were retirees, adding that, some had fallen sick and some had died, over the course of the five years that they had been awaiting the verdict of the apex court.

According to him, the case stemmed from the investors’ failed move to secure their investments in Nospecto Oil and Gas.

He said that the case was first taken before the Securities and Exchange Commission, which made a decision in their favour in 2008.

According to him, there were also two subsequent pronouncements of the Investment and Securities Tribunal, in which the oil company was categorised as ‘Wonder Bank’, which operated illegally and engaged in a financial scheme, without the approval of SEC.

Matiluko said it was following this,7 that the investors filed a case seeking to secure the release of their funds, which the Central Bank of Nigeria had confiscated from Nospecto Oil and Gas.

He said though the case was decided in favour of the investors, the displeased respondents lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal and the case later proceeded to the Supreme Court.

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