About

Esosa is the Managing Partner of Solola & Akpana and co-head of our Litigation/Arbitration Practice Group which emerged winner of Dispute Resolution Team of the year, 2018 at the ESQ Nigeria Legal Awards.

A litigator with a bias for the Defence Bar, Esosa has over 25 years dispute resolution experience spanning complex commercial disputes, compensation claims arising from oil exploration activities, labour and employment disputes, tax liabilities, intellectual property disputes, debt recovery and civil tort claims.

Esosa also has considerable experience in arbitration and regularly appears as counsel before arbitral tribunals, and has also been appointed several times as a sole arbitrator and a member of arbitral panels.

He has represented some of the most prominent companies in Nigeria in major litigation and arbitration cases at both trial and appellate levels, including:

• The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited
• Chevron Nigeria Limited
• Nigeria LNG Limited
• TotalEnergies Nigeria Limited
• Moni Pulo Limited
• Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited
• DEL Waste Management Company Limited
• Notore Chemical Industries Limited
• IHS Nigeria Limited
• INT Towers Nigeria Limited
• Craneburg Construction Company Limited
• Lubrik Construction Company Limited
• Huawei Technology Company Nigeria Limited
• Huawei Technology Investment Limited
• Access Bank Plc
• Heritage Bank Plc

 
From 2013-2015, Esosa served as Secretary of the Continuing Legal Education/Seminar Committee of the Port Harcourt Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, and from 2016-2018, he served as Secretary of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Port Harcourt Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK (Nigeria Branch).

Between 2020 – 2021 he served as Chairman of the Law Firm Management Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice (NBA-SLP).

He is currently the Chairman of the Education/Training Committee of the Port Harcourt Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK (Nigeria Branch) and also a member of the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Notable achievements

• Successfully prosecuted a suit at the Federal High Court in which demand notices issued by the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce & Trade against two telecommunications infrastructure providers companies for payments in excess of N1.4 billion as registration/renewal of business premises and penalty for non-compliance were declared illegal.
• Successfully defended a claim in excess of N2billion in a complex EPC contract arbitration dispute.
• Successfully defended a claim of circa $100m in a breach of contract arbitration dispute on behalf of a major IoC.
• Successfully defended a top UK class-action law firm and two of its partners against multiple suits in Nigeria to challenge landmark judgments against a major oil company in the UK in two class-action oil spill suits.
• Successfully defended a liquefied natural gas company both at trial and appellate levels against multi-billion naira multiple judgment enforcement actions across multiple courts and jurisdictions both within and outside Nigeria.
• Successfully defended major oil companies both at trial and appellate levels against multi-billion naira oil spill and breach of contract suits.
• Successfully defended banks both at trial and appellate levels against multi-million naira suits ranging from breach of contract to libel.
• Led the team that successfully secured a multi-million judgment against a sitting Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for breach of a citizen’s fundamental rights.
• Leading the team that regularly provides legal advice and opinions on Nigerian law to correspondent foreign law firms acting in litigation and arbitration disputes arising from Nigeria.

Personal interests

When he is not practising law, Esosa enjoys travelling, music, movies, writing movie reviews, travelogues and poetry.