The Federal High Court in Abuja has deferred hearing in a legal action instituted by Malabu Oil against the Federal Government on the ownership of the oil prospecting license (OPL) 245 until July 5, this year.
Justice John Tsoho deferred hearing of the lawsuit following the inability of the plaintiffs to serve court processes on Shell, one of the major defendants in the suit.
When the matter was mentioned, counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr Joseph Achimugu, apologised to the court that proceedings would not be able to go on as scheduled because of his inability to serve some processes on the defendants before the sitting.
Counsel to the defendants did not object to the request for an adjournment but noted that all counsel who had been served had filed their preliminary objection, which should be heard on the next adjourned date.
Justice Tsoho consequently fixed July 5, 2017 for hearing of the preliminary objections.
Alhaji Mohammed Sani Ahmed and Pecos Energy Limited had sued the Federal Government, Shell, Agip and seven others over the alleged illegal transfer of their stakes in the oil prospecting license (OPL) 245 otherwise known as Malabu Oil to unauthorised persons.
They had alleged that FG re-allocated the oil block to Shell and AGIP without the consent of Malabu Oil where they owned the largest shares.