Stella Oduah’s N255m Cars: Court Orders Coscharis To Provide Papers

imageA Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Coscharis Motors Limited to disclose to Enough is Enough (EIE) Nigeria, a non-governmental organization, the information requested by the organization on the 2013 purchase of two bullet-proof cars for then Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah.

Justice Mohammed N. Yunusa issued the order on April 28, 2015, while delivering judgment in the suit filed on behalf of EIE by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) against Coscharis Motors.

In opposing the suit, Coscharis Motors said through its Company Secretary and Legal Adviser, Mr. Ndubuisi Chito, that it is a fully indigenous private limited liability company with no government investment in its equity and that it is not funded by tax payer’s money or any other type of government subvention, adding that it was not engaged in any type of public service.

The company therefore contended that the FOI Act was not applicable to it and that it was therefore not obliged to disclose to EIE the information requested by the organization.

However, EIE’s lawyer, Mr. Ayodeji Acquah, argued that irrespective of the status of Coscharis Motors as a private company, having benefited from the import duty waiver and thus utilized public funds in the procurement of the vehicles, the company clearly falls within the purview of Sections 2(7) and 31 of the FOI Act as only government entities are entitled to import duty waivers

In his judgment, Justice Yunusa upheld Mr. Acquah’s argument and held that the FOI Act is applicable to Coscharis Motors.

The judge also dismissed the contention of Coscharis Motors that the court had no jurisdiction in the matter as the suit was filed by EIE more than 30 days after it was deemed to have been denied access and that the period was not extended by the court as provided under the FOI Act.

Justice Yunusa said he saw no merit in the argument as EIE applied through a Motion Exparte dated January 9, 2014 for leave of court and extension of time within which to file the process, which the court granted as prayed on February 27, 2014.

He therefore granted EIE’s prayers but did not issue any order for the Attorney-General of the Federation to initiate criminal proceedings against Coscharis Motors for wrongful denial of access to information.

Source: TheNEWS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *