Abia slams Enyimba economic city promoters over misleading court report

The Abia State Government has dismissed as misleading a media report attributed to promoters of the Enyimba Economic City concerning the outcome of an arbitral ruling on the project. In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Office of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, the government said the publication misrepresented the findings and legal effect of the majority award delivered by the arbitral tribunal on February 13, 2026. According to the statement, the report titled “Both Majority and Dissenting Rulings Declared Abia State Cannot Withdraw Our Certificate of Occupancy” created a false impression that the tribunal ruled entirely in favour of the project promoters. “The said publication contains several statements that materially misrepresent the findings and legal effect of the Majority Award delivered by the Arbitral Tribunal on 13 February 2026,” the statement read. The government said the publication also attempted to elevate the dissenting opinion of a tribunal member to the same legal status as the majority decision. “In arbitral jurisprudence, the decision that has legal force and effect is the decision of the majority of the Tribunal. A dissenting opinion, while permissible as an expression of the views of an individual arbitrator, does not constitute the operative award and cannot override or displace the findings of the majority,” the statement added. The ministry further noted that the report omitted what it described as one of the most significant aspects of the majority award. According to the government, the tribunal ordered the refund of ₦400m previously paid by the state government in connection with the share capital structure of the project company. “The Tribunal expressly ordered the refund of the sum of ₦400,000,000 earlier paid by the Abia State Government in connection with the share capital structure of the project company,” the statement said. It added that the order was based on the legal doctrine referred to by the tribunal as the “Resulting Trust Theory,” which recognised that the funds remained beneficially attributable to the government. The ministry also rejected claims that both the majority and dissenting opinions declared that the Abia State Government lacked the authority to withdraw the project’s Certificate of Occupancy. It stated that the tribunal’s analysis was limited to the contractual framework presented before it and should not be interpreted as restricting the statutory powers of the government. The Abia State Government said the majority award remained the binding decision of the tribunal and urged stakeholders to rely on the full contents of the ruling rather than selective interpretations.