Court dismisses Newswatch founders’ objection to Ibrahim

Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim
| credits:

A suit instituted by Jimoh Ibrahim as Chairman, Newswatch Communications Limited, publisher of Newswatch magazine, to restrain the four pioneer directors of the company, has survived the preliminary objection filed against it.

 

Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on Wednesday dismissed the objection filed by the four pioneer directors and fixed March 21 for the hearing of the substantive suit.

 

He upheld the argument of the plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Adenrele Adegorioye, dismissing all the grounds of objection and the entire application for “lacking in merit”.

 

Messrs Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade, who are the four defendants in the suit, had filed the objection, contending, among other reasons, that the suit disclosed no “reasonable cause of action” against them.

 

Ibrahim, his firm, Global Mirror Media Limited; and Newswatch Communications Limited had instituted the suit seeking the court to declare that the defendants had lost their positions as directors in NCL by virtue of their resignation.

 

Ibrahim claimed that Global Mirror Media Limited had, under the new shares structure, acquired the required shares in NCL and was subsequently appointed the chairman of NCL on that basis.

 

The plaintiffs therefore, want the court to declare that they (the pioneer directors) lacked competence to declare a trade dispute under the Share Purchase Agreement between them and the NCL.

 

The court also affirmed that the suit was competently instituted by Ibrahim, holding that he (Ibrahim) had sufficient interest to protect by instituting the suit.