So a Court in Onitsha has ordered Dangote Cement Plz (@AlikoDangote ) to pay the families of some victims that their cement truck allegedly killed, a whopping sum of N157.5m after they refused to pay just N6m. An interesting THREAD!!!! 
Sometime in 2017, a Dangote truck negligently swerved off his lane and ran into a truck of Ekeson Salins Oil and Gas Ltd. at AkaMkpa in Cross Rivers State, killing the driver and conductor instantly. The driver of the Dangote truck immediately fled from the scene
The deceased persons killed by the negligent driving of the Dangote truck were brothers of Udeme John and one Ayuba Sadiq. The death of their brothers led to a joint action filed at the Cross Rivers State High Court in Suit No. HK/10/2017...
...to get the company to pay for the recklessness of their agent the driver. The Company got the services of a lawyer and entered a defence, and during trial pleaded with the Court to let them be allowed to explore settlement out of court with the parties.
The lawyer for the Plaintiffs as well as the Court agreed to this, thinking same was being done in good faith. While settlement was on going, Dangote offered to pay N6m (Six Million Naira) to the families of the victims, to alleviate their pain.
Both parties agreed to this and an agreement termed 'Terms of Settlement' was drafted and signed by the parties, inclusive of a Director and Secretary of Dangote Cement Plc.
There is never any amount of money that will replace the life of a loved one but the Plaintiffs reluctantly signed and were eager to put this tragedy behind them. As Nigerian things used to be, things were never going to be so easy.
On the day fixed for adoption of the terms (for the Court to make it a judgement) when the families were really looking forward to get some closure, Lo and behold the Company proceeded to resile from the agreement.
This was to the dismay of everyone including the presiding judge. It hardly ever happens that a party would resile from a term of settlement that is already set in stone on the day of Adoption, talk more a big company like @AlikoDangote's.
The Judge proceeded to inquire why they wanted to resile when they were the ones who pleaded to be allowed to settle with the Plaintiffs. the lawyer to Dangote started telling stories as to how they found out that the truck did not belong to them and they didn't know the driver
Remember o. Dangote briefed a lawyer for many months. Paid fees and their representatives were following up the case for many months. They knew that if the judge at Cross River delivered the judgement, the damages would be enormous, which made them want to settle.
Having bargained and brought everything down to N6m, they then still felt maybe these victims didn't deserve anything (after all na Naija we dey) and concocted that story. We are talking about human lives here o. People DIED!!!
The Court at Cross River as the law permits would not force a party to adopt terms of settlement. The Court declined to force them to adopt it but in her ruling highlighted that a new cause of action independent of d instant suit had arisen from the refusal of Dangote to abide...
...by the terms already signed by the parties. The suit at Cross River was then withdrawn. You can imagine the pain the family of the deceased were going through while the company dragged them emotionally back and forth.
The families then proceeded to Onitsha to file yet another Suit in Suit No. O/9/2018, this time urging the court to compel Dangote to abide by the terms of settlement they already signed. Yet again the company swooped in to defend. (Remember its just N6m we are talking about)
The day the case came up at Onitsha, both parties presented their case to the court. (I happened to be in Court that day for another Suit and took interest). The Court after listening to the parties, advised Dangote's lawyer to explore settlement yet again. @AlikoDangote
Even some lawyers in Court in a side discussion were asking the lawyer for Dangote what they were dragging in that case, that they should put the family of the victims out of their misery and pay. Dangote's lawyer refused settlement and the Court adjourned for judgment.
The Court in his judgement not only directed that @AlikoDangote should pay the sum of N6m, as agreed but also a further N151.5m as General damages for the company's reprehensible conduct in resiling from that agreement. The Court also ordered 35% interest until liquidation.
This means that the more @AlikoDangote delays in paying, the interest on the judgment sum increases by 35%.
I was made to understand that the families of the victims are still interested in negotiating with the company despite the judgment of the court.
I will use this medium to implore on @AlikoDangote to ensure that qualified, sober and experienced drivers drive his trucks, especially his cement trucks. He should possibly keep a database of his Drivers and their various destinations
If this was done, they would have easily dispelled the fact that the driver who killed those victims were not from their Company which they could not prove in Court.
@AlikoDangote should also set up a team to look into the rising number of deaths of Nigerians caused by some of his truck drivers. I Have personally had a near death experience with one of them back in 2017. God knows how I was able to swerve out of the way that day.
I plead with @AlikoDangote to see to it that the families of these victims in this case get some closure and some justice. He should also extend this to other victims who are not named here or had access to a lawyer.
For those of them that already died without Justice, @AlikoDangote should give them justice by seeing that his drivers are not only well documented but properly trained and experienced to avoid future forseeable accidents.
If you're interested in the full judgement download the PDF in this link
