I am Not a Director of Arebs Resources Nigeria Limited, Says Atafo Abure

Ejiofor Alike

The law firm of Felix PO Nwadialo & Co has clarified that a minor, Master. Atafo Abure, has averred that he was neither a subscriber nor a director of Arebs Resources Nigeria Limited as he was only about three years in 2004 and did not know anything about the incorporation of the company.

According to the statement of claims in the suit between Master Atafo Abure, issued by his friend, Mr. A. Ebho Abure, who is also his father, Vs Fidelity Bank Plc, THISDAY Newspapers Limited and Arebs Resources Nigeria Limited, the law firm also clarified that neither did Master Abure as an infant at that time nor did his parents consent to his name being used as a member and director of the company.

Master Abure, who is the claimant, also argued that up till now, he is still a minor and lacks the capacity to decide to be a shareholder in a strange company that was not promoted by his parents.

The claimant faulted a publication on page 40 of THISDAY Sunday edition of August 9, 2015 captioned “CBN’s Directive on Recovery of Delinquent Credit Facilities” which claimed that Arebs Resources Nigeria Limited was indebted to the first defendant, Fidelity Bank, in the sum of N73,777,919.15 and also listed the claimant, Abure Atafo, as a director of the company.

But the chambers of Nwadialo & Co argued that by listing Master Abure Atafo as a director of the Arebs, the publication portrayed the claimant as a “cheat, who has obtained money by false pretences and as somebody who cannot pay has debts and as a dishonest, fraudulent and untrustworthy person who would not be found fit and proper to advance his education.”

The law firm also clarified that the claimant as an under aged person, who is less than 18 years could not be a director of Arebs Resources Nigeria Limited, which is the third defendant, as the law does not allow infants to be directors of a company.

The claimant, according to the law firm, averred that Fidelity Bank in its hurry to disburse money to Arebs, failed to carry its due diligence as the claimant was never invited by the bank to ascertain and confirm that he was at that tender age, a director of the company.

The claimant also denied signing any documents at the bank as the director of the company, adding also that his passport photograph was not given to the bank by himself or his parents.

The statement of claim also maintained “that the publication, which was circulated nationwide, dragged the innocence and integrity of the claimant who is a minor to disrepute and odium and jeopardises the ambition of the claimant to attain lofty heights in his academic, spiritual, business and professional pursuits as people can always refer to the publication and use it to discredit the integrity and the suitability of the claimant to opportunities that he would otherwise be entitled to.”