• Or risk committal for contempt

By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The Investment and Securities Tribunal has ordered the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alhaji Lamido Yuguda, to implement the decision against FINMAL Finance & Services Limited to buy back shares and accrued bonus shares belonging to the Estate of Late Ambassador Abubakar Garba Gobir that were wrongly sold or risk being committed for contempt.

According to the notice of Consequence of Disobedience of Court Order (Form 48) which was filed at the registry of the Investment and Security Tribunal on the 2nd of November 2023, at our correspondent’s disposal, the DG of SEC may be committed to prison due to inaction of the Group Chairman of NGX.

It was gathered that the dispute leading to the committal proceedings has a long and chequered history.

Late Ambassador Abubakar Garba Gobir had shares in various companies before his demise on November 27, 1996. Upon his demise, a letter of Administration was granted over his Estate by the Probate Registry Division of the High Court of Kwara State on August 6, 1997.

Subsequently, one of the heirs was appointed by the Court to manage the Estate in the interest of other beneficiaries, but the Estate subsequently discovered that there had been some underhand dealings with the shares, prompting a petition to SEC.

The petition was investigated, and FINMAL Finance & Services Limited and Professional Stockbrokers Limited (her sub-broker) were found to have sold the shares belonging to the Estate on the instruction of some untraceable persons. The value of the shares sold and accrued dividends totalled N170,036,405.79.

According to the sources, despite the directive of SEC, the boss of FINMAL Finance & Services Limited who is now NGX Group Chairman, failed to buy back the shares and also failed to pay the dividends to the estate, prompting the Estate to do all within the confines of the law to ensure that justice is served and the Estate gets what rightly belongs to it.

According to the counsel for the Estate, Mr. Ahmed Tafa: “FINMAL Finance & Services Ltd was ordered by SEC to buy back the shares wrongly sold and pay the accrued dividend to the Estate of Late Ambassador Gobir vide the letter dated 9th February 2021 on or before March 15, 2021, a directive which FINMAL Finance & Services Ltd failed to comply with.

“However, FINMAL Finance & Services Ltd, in a letter dated 1st June 2021 and jointly authored by Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga and Mr. Adedapo Adekoje, offered to pay the Estate of Late Ambassador Gobir a sum of N90,000,000 in full and final settlement of the indebtedness which accrued from unauthorised sale of the shares belonging to the Estate; the offer which the Estate promptly rejected.

“Despite a letter of reminder dated 16th June 2021, FINMAL Finance & Services Ltd has refused to comply with SEC directives, leading the Estate to approach the Investment and Securities Tribunal to seek redress and hope for closure. The Tribunal, in its judgment dated 6th January 2023, directed SEC to enforce its decision against FINMAL Finance & Services LTD.

“The Estate met another brick wall because SEC has refused to comply with the judgment of the Tribunal. The Estate has now resorted to contempt proceedings against the D.G SEC to compel him to comply with the terms of the judgment by enforcing its decision dated 9th February 2021.

“The position of the Estate is buttressed by the process at our disposal which gave the DG SEC notice in the following terms: “TAKE NOTICE that unless you obey the directives contained in this order, you will be guilty of contempt of the court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

All efforts to reach out to the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alhaji Lamido Yuguda, to hear his side of the story were unsuccessful, as several attempts to contact him did not go through.

Our correspondent also gathered that the Managing Director of FINMAL Finance & Services Ltd is Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga, who is the current Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, while Mr. Adedapo Adekoje was at a time the President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers. It is believed that their positions might be responsible for the reluctance of the Securities and Exchange Commission to carry out the order of the tribunal.