Jimoh Ibrahim Not Owner of Newswatch, Says Ray Ekpu

Bennett Oghifo

Four of the founding members of Newswatch Communications Limited have said Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim does not own the company, because he never paid for 51 per cent shares of the company, as he claims.

In a statement issued yesterday, the founders, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade, said their attention was drawn to a story on October 31, 2017, that was “planted by Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim in several newspapers” about a court decision that took place seven months ago, precisely on March 27, 2017.

The said judgement of the Court of Appeal on the ownership of Newswatch Communications Limited was delivered by Justice Tijani Abubakar and supported by Justice Garba Abubakar and Justice Abimbola Obaseki.

The Newswatch founders said Ibrahim had done everything imaginable since 2011 to falsely claim 51 per cent shares of Newswatch Communications Limited, “which he never paid for.”

They said: “The judgement, which was given based on the fact that the judges misdirected themselves on the facts of the matter, has since been contested by two of the shareholders of the company.

The shareholders, Mr. Nuhu Wada Aruwa and Professor Jibril Aminu, have asked the Supreme Court to rectify the error of the court.”

The Newswatch founders continued: “On May 5, 2011, the directors of Newswatch Communications Limited signed a Share Purchase Agreement with Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim and his Global Media Mirror Limited for the sale of 51 per cent shares of Newswatch Communications Limited to him and his company. The share purchase price was N510 million which he was to pay not later than May 5, 2011, the date of the completion board meeting.

“Ibrahim never paid the said N510 million before that day; he never paid it on that day and he never paid it after that day. Up till today, he has not paid for the said shares. But he has tried by hook and crook to own the shares of a company he never paid for.

“He took four of us-Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade-to the Federal High Court in Lagos, claiming that we had retired from the company on May 5, 2011, and we were no longer directors of the company.

“The truth of the matter is that we retired from the company and were reappointed as non-executive directors at the very meeting in which he was chosen as chairman of the board of the company.”

According to them, Ibrahim went with them to the Newswatch newsroom on that day and “told our staff that we had been reappointed as directors of the company. The news was published in several newspapers, including his National Mirror the next day being May 6, 2011. Yet Ibrahim denied it.”

They explained that “for the 15 months that the magazine was published with him as the chairman, our names were listed every week as directors of the company. We submitted certified true copies of the magazines to Justice OkonAbang who handled the case. Curiously, JusticeAbang accepted Ibrahim as chairman but refused to accept us as directors, even though we were all listed as such in the same document. In fact, throughout the case, the judge showed open hostility to our lawyer, Kunle Oyesanya (SAN). We kept wondering what happened.

“When he gave his controversial judgement against the weight of evidence we went on appeal. The more intriguing part of his judgement was his claim that if Ibrahim had not paid for the shares, we would not have made him chairman of the company. But the suit before him which was initiated by Ibrahim was only about our directorship of the company and not about share purchase. He only draggedtheissueofsharepurchaseinto his judgement when he realised that two of Newswatch directors had gone to court asking for an abrogation of the share purchase agreement because of Ibrahim’s failure to comply with the terms.”

The statement said they contested the “controversial judgement given by Justice Abang,” but that “while this was going on, Ibrahim secretly registeredacompany called Newswatch Newspapers Limited and gave his company, Global Media Mirror Limited, 900,000 shares and Newswatch Communications Limited only 100,000 shares.