{"id":7156,"date":"2026-04-07T20:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=7156"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:47:21","slug":"court-terminates-logging-companys-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2026\/04\/07\/court-terminates-logging-companys-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s \u00a0Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: A worker labels logs in Akewa\u2019s log field in Beyan Poye Community Forest, Margibi. Photo credit: Akewa Group of Companies via Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By Emmanuel Sherman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

MONROVIA \u2013 A court in Monrovia has terminated<\/a> a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending over four years of legal battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commercial Court at the Temple of Justice handed down the ruling recently after Akewa Group of Companies failed to honor the arbitration<\/a> with the Beyan Poye Community Forest in Margibi County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community forest management agreement\u2026 between the Beyan Poye Community Forest and Akewa Group of Companies is hereby deemed terminated as a matter of law\u2026,\u201d read the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFailure to appear in open court to make a case, this court has no other option after hearing the informant\u2019s argument and giving due recourse to the parties pleading than to grant the informant’s Bill of information,\u201d added the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abigail Funke Odebunmi, Akewa\u2019s manager and co-owner, did not immediately respond to queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long legal battle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyan Poye Community Forest, on March 25, 2017, signed a 15-year logging agreement<\/a> with Akewa to harvest its 33,338 hectares of forestland in the Gibi District.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Beyan Poye invoked an arbitration clause in its logging agreement with Akewa after nearly five years of stalemate.\u00a0 \u00a0Subsequently, the FDA set up a panel, and the process began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel awarded Beyan Poye over US$80,000 in forest-related benefits and granted Akewa the right to continue its operations unhindered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akewa opposed the arbitrators\u2019 decision and petitioned the Commercial Court to review it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that review ended unsuccessfully, Akewa, owned by Nigerian businesswoman Abigail Funke Odebunmi, petitioned the Supreme Court. However, the company committed procedural errors in its petition to the high court. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Commercial Court to enforce the arbitration award, granting Beyan Poye\u2019s motion for dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Beyan Poye petitioned the Commercial Court to terminate Akewa\u2019s contract for failing to resume operations. The petition referenced a provision of the arbitration award that the company restart activities in January 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commercial Court sided with Beyan Poye, terminating Akewa\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuelle Hare-King<\/a> of the Heritage Partners and Associates, Beyan Poye\u2019s lawyer, told The DayLight the law firm had contacted another firm to seek a court\u2019s order to freeze Akewa\u2019s bank accounts until it could settle its debt to Beyan Poye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehudi Barnyou, Beyan Poye\u2019s chief officer, reveled in the victory and has advice for community forests across the country.

\u201cAs a community leader, if you have a problem with a company concerning land rental, royalty, or whatever, take the lead and go to court,\u201d said Barnyou. \u00a0\u00a0He promised to present the ruling at the community meeting with members of the community later this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: A worker labels logs in Akewa\u2019s log field in Beyan Poye Community Forest, Margibi. Photo credit: Akewa Group of Companies via Facebook By Emmanuel Sherman MONROVIA \u2013 A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending over four years of legal battle. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1723,3213,107],"class_list":["post-7156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rainforest","tag-akewa-group-of-companies","tag-beyan-poye-community-forest","tag-liberia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s Contract","description":"A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending a four-year legal battle.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2026\/04\/07\/court-terminates-logging-companys-contract\/","robots":"noindex, nofollow, max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"msvalidate.01":"CA6BD2F84653EA44942A55ABC0B35372","miscellaneous":""},"schema":null,"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"The DayLight - The DayLight is a nonprofit, environmental news website. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s Contract","og:description":"A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending a four-year legal battle.","og:url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2026\/04\/07\/court-terminates-logging-companys-contract\/","og:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/resized_normal_1280x675.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/resized_normal_1280x675.jpg","og:image:width":1280,"og:image:height":675,"article:published_time":"2026-04-07T20:47:11+00:00","article:modified_time":"2026-04-07T20:47:21+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s Contract","twitter:description":"A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending a four-year legal battle.","twitter:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"7156","title":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s Contract","description":"A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending a four-year legal battle.","keywords":null,"keyphrases":{"focus":{"keyphrase":"","score":0,"analysis":{"keyphraseInTitle":{"score":0,"maxScore":9,"error":1}}},"additional":[]},"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":"","og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":"-1","robots_max_videopreview":"-1","robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":"default","local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"reviewed_by":null,"ai":{"faqs":[],"keyPoints":[],"titles":[],"descriptions":[],"socialPosts":{"email":[],"linkedin":[],"twitter":[],"facebook":[],"instagram":[]}},"created":"2026-04-07 20:47:22","updated":"2026-04-07 22:37:45"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"

\n\t\t\tHome<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tRainforest<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tCourt Terminates Logging Company\u2019s Contract\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68"},{"label":"Rainforest","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/"},{"label":"Court Terminates Logging Company\u2019s \u00a0Contract","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2026\/04\/07\/court-terminates-logging-companys-contract\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7159,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156\/revisions\/7159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}