Terminal operators have no right to disregard judgment – counsel

Pending the determination of the stay application, terminal operators are required to obey the judgment of the Federal High Court, which requires them to put an end to the collection of the controversial storage charges, says Babatunde Ogungbamila of Olisa Agbakoba Chambers.

According to a statement issued by the chamber, the pending application for stay of execution as well as an Appeal does not remove the effect of the judgment, therefore, terminal operators need to desist from any act that will undermine the integrity of the subsisting judgment.

Ogungbamila issued the statement in responses to the newspaper publications by counsels to Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Femi Atoyebi/Ayo Olorunfemi, claiming that the Federal High Court “clearly acted without jurisdiction” in dismissing the terminal operators’ application for stay of execution and advising members of STOAN to continue with the collection of the controversial charges pending the determination of the appeal.

The counsels, he said, claimed that the terminal operators had the licence to continue the collection of the charges because the dismissed application for stay of execution of the judgment had been re-filed at the Court of Appeal. “In essence, both counsels are saying that the re-filed application and the appeal empowered STOAN to disregard the judgment. We disagree with this position,” he said.

Ogungbamila however said by the judgment of the Federal High Court, the continued collection of the charges had been declared illegal. Citing example, he said the “Supreme Court, in Okafor v. Nnaife [1987] 4 NWLR (P. 64) 126 at 138, has held that a party whose conduct has been declared illegal in a judgment is not entitled in law to a stay which will empower him to continue with the illegality pending an Appeal.”

While seeking for accelerated hearing of the application at the Court of Appeal, he said the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as the economic regulator of ports will continue to perform its statutory functions by ensuring that ports regulations are enforced for the overall general good of the Nigerian economy.

“The cardinal duty of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is to stabilise prices, ensure more cargo throughput to Nigerian ports and stem the yearly loss of over N2 trillion potential revenue to the government caused by excessive by service providers at the ports,” he said.