Some shareholders of an insurance firm, Industrial and General Insurance Plc have dragged a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The firm’s shareholders accused Ahmed and seven others of not abiding by the law to hold the company’s statutory Annual General Meeting for over five years, but embarking on an “unrestrained asset stripping” by selling and transferring the company’s fixed assets without the approval of the shareholders.
Other respondents in the suit marked FHC/L/CP/1699/2021 are the company; its Managing Director, Rachel Emenike; Prof Oladapo Afolabi; Augustine Olorunsola; Kanayo Okoye; Gafar Animashaun and Abiodun Ajifolawe.
The respondents were accused contravening the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2000 in running the affairs of the firm.
In the suit, the petitioners urged the court to declare the management of the affairs of the company by the respondents illegal for their failure to convene the statutory AGM, failure to declare and publish annual audited financial reports of the company and failure to give statutory reports of directors and auditors.
They also urged the court to grant an order of injunction restraining the respondents, their agents and privies from further acts of negotiations, sale or utilisation of the company’s assets, pending when the respondents render proper accounts on the assets of the company at a properly convened AGM.
In a 21-paragraph statement on oath deposed to by one of the petitioners, Abiodun Akinjayeju, the deponent noted that the company’s assets sold without authorisation from shareholders included landed properties in Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lagos, Bodija, Ibadan in Oyo State and Kacyru Kigali, in Rwanda.
He added that letters have been written to challenge the alleged illegalities of the respondents, but nothing positive was done to the complaints.
The petitioners, however, noted that the affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner oppressive to them and therefore urged the court to grant their prayers.