President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has applauded Nigeria’s victory in its legal case against Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited in a United Kingdom (UK) court.

After over five years of legal fireworks, judgment was delivered in favour of Nigeria which has now halted the enforcement of the $11 billion arbitration award which was previously in favour of P&ID.

In a ruling delivered via e-mail on Monday, the Justice of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, Robin Knowles, upheld Nigeria’s prayer.

Knowles delivered judgment in favour of Nigeria on the ground that the ill-fated gas processing contract was obtained in a fraudulent manner.

Tinubu while applauding the judgment in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said that ‘Nigeria will no longer be held hostage’.

“This landmark judgment proves conclusively that nation states will no longer be held hostage by economic conspiracies between private firms and solitarily corrupt officials who conspire to extort and indebt the very nations they swear to defend and protect,” Ngelale quoted Tinubu as saying.

“Today’s victory is not for Nigeria alone. It is a victory for our long exploited continent and for the developing world at large, which has for too long been on the receiving end of unjust economic malpractice and overt exploitation.

“Nigeria is appreciative of the tremendous efforts of the defense team and acknowledges the role of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney-General in the process of defending Nigeria’s interest in this case,” the President stated.

A private arbitration tribunal had on January 31, 2017 ordered Nigeria to pay a staggering amount of $6.6 billion to P&ID plus interest dating back to March 20, 2013.

With the interest rate fixed at seven percent amounting to $1 million per day, the potential payment had accumulated to over $11 billion before the verdict.