In his ruling, Justice Buba held that FAAN failed
to comply with the condition that dispute between
it and Bi-Courtney must be referred to the Co-
ordinating Committee before commencing the suit
The application by the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria, FAAN, seeking to stop Bi-Courtney
Group from taking over the General Aviation
Terminal, GAT, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport
Terminal 2, MMA2, Lagos, suffered a setback, as
the Federal High Court, Lagos, ruled in favour of
the firm.
Justice I.N. Buba struck out FAAN’s application
seeking to restrain Bi-Courtney from taking
possession of the GAT, despite the Appeal Court
judgment, which affirmed Bi-Courtney’s ownership
of the terminal.
FAAN had filed the application on December 5,
2011, seeking several reliefs against Bi-Courtney
in respect of the use and operation of the airpot
terminal based on a concession agreement
executed between it and the Federal Government.
Although FAAN’s ex parte application to restrain
Bi-Courtney was granted by the court on
December 6, 2011, an application by the
concessionnaire seeking an order of court to set
aside the order was granted in a ruling delivered
on February 27, 2012.
Consequently, Bi-Courtney, in a Notice of
Preliminary Objection dated April 10, 2012, had
asked that the order of court be struck out for
failure to fulfil certain conditions contained in the
concession agreement between the parties, or the
suit be dismissed for being an abuse of court
process.
Bi-Courtney had argued that FAAN instituted the
action without consideration to the dispute
resolution mechanism provided for in the
concession, which demands that disputes arising
from the agreement must first be referred to the
Co-ordinating Committee for resolution.
Bi-Courtney also alleged that the suit was an
abuse of court process, as reliefs sought were
substantially the same as those already
determined by the Federal High Court and the
Court of Appeal.
In his ruling, Justice Buba held that FAAN failed
to comply with the condition that the dispute
must be referred to the Co-ordinating Committee
before commencing the suit in accordance with
the terms of the Concession Agreement.
The court, however, refused the relief sought to
dismiss the suit on the ground that it was already
declared incompetent.
The issue of the ownership of the GAT has been a
subject of numerous litigations, including five
appeals, all of which have been decided in favour
of Bi-Courtney, the most recent being the ruling
of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which affirmed the
company’s ownership of the disputed terminal.