Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Law  

N250m suit against OBJ’s former aide fixed for March 23

By Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja
26 January 2021   |   3:01 am
The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed March 23 for hearing in a suit filed against Green Energy International Ltd and its Chairman, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, by two aggrieved directors over alleged injustice and cheating.

Federal High Court, Abuja

The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed March 23 for hearing in a suit filed against Green Energy International Ltd and its Chairman, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, by two aggrieved directors over alleged injustice and cheating.  

They are consequently demanding N250 million as damages for legal expenses and other inconveniences incurred so far. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu fixed the date after taking arguments from counsel to the parties in the suit.  

Justice Ojukwu afterwards adjourned the matter to enable counsel to the petitioner, Alade Agbabiaka (SAN) and the respondents’ lawyer, A. B. Anachebe (SAN) regularise their processes for mention.  

Dr Bunu Alibe and Mr Ayo Olojede had in a motion on notice marked FHC/ABJ/PET/20/2020, listed the company and Adegbulugbe as first and second respondents respectively.   Adegbulugbe was Adviser on Energy during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.  

The two are by the suit accusing Adegbulugbe of corporate misdemeanors, including unilateral usurpation of executive responsibilities contrary to the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020 and the Company’s Articles.  

They claimed that they were unlawfully removed by the chairman from the company they jointly nurtured to fruition.   The applicants averred that such decision was contrary to the provisions of CAMA 2020 and the organisation’s Article of Association.  

When the matter came up yesterday, Agbabiaka informed the court that a petition dated November 24, 2020 was filed and served on the respondents and that they had responded with two processes.  

The lawyer asked for consolidation of the processes with the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1390/2020 filed by the company against the petitioners, which was already before the court.  

However, counsel to the respondents, Anachebe objected to Agbabiaka’s submission.   He argued that they were not properly served with the petitioners’ processes and urged the court not to fix a date for commencement of the matter until the respondents were properly served.  

But the judge went ahead to fix March 23 for the petitioners and the respondents to regularise their processes.

Alibe and Olojede in the petition are seeking for order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the respondents from giving effect to any acts on the basis of the resolutions taken or arrived at or purportedly made at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the first respondent’s company, which was held on November 12, 2020, pending the hearing and final determination of the petition filed herein.  

They are also asking for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents from publishing, filing, enforcing or registering any resolutions purportedly moved or passed at the said AGM, pending the hearing and final determination of the petition filed herein.  

Others include an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents from preventing and or denying the petitioners/applicants all rights, entitlements, privileges, benefits and or emoluments due to them from the first respondent.  

Their counsel maintained that by the petition, the petitioners also challenged their removal as directors of the first respondent on the ground that Article 27 of its Articles of Association had rendered the operation of Section 285 of CAMA, 2020 inoperative or inapplicable to the first respondent by way of removal of directors of the company by retirement or by rotation at the company’s AGM.  

Agbabiaka held that it was necessary to restrain the respondents so that the status quo would be maintained, pending the hearing and determination of the petition.   He added that the petitioners would suffer irreparable damage if the respondents were not restrained.

0 Comments