Mr Valentine Ozigbo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/429/2020 is being sued by Transcorp shareholders for abuse of office, The Moment Nigeria learnt.
The complaint filed against Valentine Ozigbo, the former CEO of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), by shareholders alleging abuse of authority and breach of responsibilities as Director and Chief Executive Officer and or non-executive director of the hotel, is his main albatross.
Valentine Ozigbo, whom the public were meant to believe, resigned from his lucrative job as Transcorp’s CEO in order to run for governor of Anambra State, was actually fired by the board, according to reliable information at our disposal.
Sources who spoke revealed that Transcorp shareholders filed a lawsuit against Valentine Ozigbo in the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The embattled politician was said not filed any proceeding in response to the litigation pending before Federal High Court Court 8, which was originally slated for hearing on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
The petition by Transcorp shareholders on March 2, 2020, at 3:55 p.m. was with the title “Demand for immediate resignation, refund of salaries and emoluments derived from Transcorp, and notice of intention to apply to the Federal High Court for leave to commence derivative action against Mr Valentine Ozigbo in the event of failure to yield.”
Tolu Babaleye, counsel for the petitioners, who are Transcorp shareholders, cited Ozigbo’s alleged violations as jeopardizing the hotel’s image and operations.
Valentine Ozigbo was also charged by Transcorp shareholders of receiving salary and emoluments from the firm while failing to perform services as required by the terms of engagement, according to the suit.
In an originating summons dated March 24, 2020, and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/429/2020, the applicants, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (suing through Tijani Ibrahim, Harram Hassan, Muhammed Abubakar Madaki, Kato Danjuma, Ephraim, and Providence and Integrity Shareholders Association, representing themselves and on behalf of all the shareholders of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, except the shareholders of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, except the shareholders who are in support of Ozigbo, sources informed.
They initiated the case against Ozigbo and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enforce the respondents’ duty as directors under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, it was revealed (CAMA).
The originating summons filed by their counsel, Tolu Babaleye, the applicants sought for ‘an order granting leave to the applicants to bring a derivative action in the name and on behalf of the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), against the 1st respondent, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, for the purposes of seeking redress for the continued abuse of office and a breach by Ozigbo of his duties as a Director and Chief Executive Officer and or non-executive director of the 1st applicant (Transcorp).
‘An order granting leave to the applicant to bring a derivative action in the name and on behalf of the 1st applicant, against the 2nd respondent, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), for the purpose of seeking court order to do its supervisory duty and ensure the 1st respondent does not continue with abuse of his office and a breach by the 1st respondent of his duties as a director and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and or non-executive director of the 1st applicant.
‘An order restraining Ozigbo from further breach of his duty or further abuse of his office and breach of his duties as a director and the CEO and or non-executive director of the 1st applicant, pending the hearing and determination of the originating summons.’
Valentine Ozigbo’s involvement in partisan politics is against the goal of the organization being a public limited business, according to the petitioners in a 31-paragraph supporting document deposed to Kato Danjuma, a shareholder.
“That politics and politicking do not form part of the object of Transcorp as its customers and clients cut across all political parties and all shades of human and corporate bodies in Nigeria and overseas.
“That the Chairman and the Board of directors and majority shareholders of the 1st applicant (Transcorp) have refused to remove Ozigbo as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the hotel or to cause him to resign his office.
“That instead of removing him and calling him to refund the salaries earned without working, while embarking on day to day campaign, some shareholders loyal to him purportedly held a meeting and re-designated him as the non-executive director with almost the same powers as managing director and he is still going about the carriage of the 1st applicant to his political campaign.”
According to our findings, Valentine Ozigbo was fired as soon as the board got the petition, presumably to avoid dragging the hotel through a lengthy legal battle.
He was accused by Transcorp stockholders of debranding and de-marketing the company, as well as jeopardizing its operations by dragging it into partisan politics.
The embattled politician was also accused of abusing his position by collecting pay and emoluments from the corporation while pursuing his goal to run for governor of Anambra State.
The petitioners claimed that the beleaguered former CEO of Transcorp had been demoted from Chief Executive Officer of the hotel to a non-executive director after shareholders complained that he had abused his position by illegally utilizing company time and property to pursue his political ambitions.
The petitioners also said that ‘after studying the recent development, our client is of the opinion that nothing has changed as the said erstwhile CEO is still going about using the badge and backdrop of Transcorp to run partisan politics.
‘We also wish to point out that it is on record that Mr Valentine Ozigbo began his campaign to be governor of Anambra State sometimes in 2019 and did not resign first as the President and CEO of Transcorp and have been and still drawing salaries and emoluments while he is on the field campaigning for governorship.
The implication of this is that Mr Valentine Ozigbo has been receiving salaries for a job not done which is a breach of his fiduciary duty as the President and CEO of Transcorp, our client’s company; this is because the job of President and CEO is a full-time job. Receiving full salary and remuneration from Transcorp while engaged in political campaigns constitutes fraud against Transcorp,’ the petition further read.
Transcorp shareholders sought his immediate resignation, accusing him of defrauding the hotel and claiming he had lost his ability to lead the company.
Part of the demands of the shareholders, as listed in the petition, include: ‘That Valentine Ozigbo should step down completely from the board of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, his purported transmutation from president and CEO to non-Executive director is not acceptable to our client as this is inimical to the general wellbeing and business fortunes of our client’s investments in Transnational Corporation of Nigeria.’
We further learned that Transcorp shareholders further demanded ‘that he should refund the salaries and emoluments he received from 2019 when he started his campaign to be Anambra governor,’ and finally ‘that Mr Ozigbo should stop involving the name of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria in his personal ambition to be governor of Anambra State as this is against the business interest of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria our client’s company which has customers spread across all political parties and to avoid unpleasant government policy which may turn around to affect the company since the government of the day is APC.’
Source: ENigeria Newspaper
