Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos has told Mastercard and its agents to stop issuing the National Identity card. The order was made following an exparte motion filed by Chams Plc and Chams Consortium Limited (CCL) on August 28, 2019, a joint statement by the companies said on Monday.
The exparte which also includes an Anton Pillar order, according to the statement, was issued on November 7, 2019. In their Statement of Claim, they are asking Mastercard to pay the sum of N114 billion for damages. Other defendants in the case include Ajay Banga, President and Chief Executive of Mastercard international, Omokehinde Ojomuyide; Country Representative of Mastercard in Nigeria, Daniel Monehin; staff of Mastercard, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and 22 commercial banks as respondents.
A similar order was given to 22 respondent banks in Nigeria restraining them from honouring or giving effect to any transaction from Mastercard. Chams emerged the preferred bidder for the Nigeria National Identity Card (NIC) concession. Before and upon the execution of a concession agreement with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Chams Plc pursued the implementation of the NIC concession by incorporating Chams Consortium Limited (CCL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the sole purpose of implementing the NIC concession.
Chams Plc also invited MasterCard to work with Chams Consortium as one of its technical partners on the NIC concession. In an open letter published earlier in the year to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chams PLC and CCL asked MasterCard to accept wrongdoing, apologize for the breach of contract and pay compensation to CCL and Chams Plc for their more than US$100m Investment and accumulated losses.
