Ex-Coal Corporation MD, Ibe Drags FG To Court Over Property

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Ex-Managing Director of Nigeria Coal Corporation (NCC), Sir Evarist Ibe has instituted a suit against the Federal Government for allegedly excluding him in the privatisation of properties of the NCC.

Ibe, who filed the suit against four government agencies alongside their consultant, C.A Chizea & Co, is seeking explanation as to why his application to be conceded his official residence is yet to be considered, whereas that of his colleagues have been processed.

The ex-NCC MD had earlier been allocated No 7 Colliery Avenue, GRA Enugu, as his official residence.

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But Ibe expressed shocked when he found out that his colleagues, with whom he began the process with had completed theirs at the Bureau for Public Enterprises (PBE), while his case is left handing since 2012.

In a statement availed THE WHISTLER, Ibe claimed to have made fruitless attempts to get the BPE and Chizea & Co to explain what had happened to his intention to buy the property at number 7, Colliery Avenue GRA Enugu, where he still resides.

This had prompted Ibe’s decision to head to court to demand what he deems his “fringe benefits” to bid for the property before it can be offered to the public.

The retired civil servant is asking the court to declare that “any offer made to any third party or non sitting tenant employee, contrary to the approved guidelines for sale of federal government properties, is illegal and ineffectual.”

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He is further asking the court to, among other things, “compel the BPE to issue him offer letter to enable him exercise his right of first refusal to purchase his tenanted apartment; and an order of perpetual injunction restraining the agencies of the federal government from offering the property for sale to the public without exhausting right of first refusal.”

The suit with reference number NICN/EN/03/2017, identifies the respondents as the Director General of BPE, the Principal Partner C.A Chiezea & Co, the Minister for Mines and Steel Development, the Nigeria Coal Corporation and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

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