Court nullifies change of ALGON’s Trustees by CAC

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has nullified the unlawful change of the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) effected by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The trial judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, held in a judgment that the CAC made the change without complying with the relevant legal provisions.

The CAC, which is the sole defendant in the suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of ALGON, purportedly removed the trustees of the association pursuant to a resolution passed by the House of Representatives Committee on States and Local Governments.

The court held that ALGON is a private organisation and, as such, is not bound by the resolution of the House of Representatives. It further ruled that the removal of ALGON’s trustees without following due process of law is illegal, null, and void.

Consequently, Justice Egwuatu ordered that the Incorporated Trustees of ALGON who were removed be reinstated immediately by the CAC.

“So, as we speak right now, Honourable Shaban Shuaibu and others, who are the plaintiffs in this case, remain the Incorporated Trustees of ALGON pursuant to the judgment delivered today by Justice Egwuatu,” counsel to the plaintiffs, Oladimeji Ekengba, told newsmen after the judgment.

The Incorporated Trustees of ALGON—Chukwudi Ezinwa, Gabriel Ugor, Shaban Shuaibu, Benjamin Kure-Solomon, and Sani Hassan—who are the 1st to 6th plaintiffs in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1980/2024, filed through their counsel, Joe Agi, SAN, listed the CAC as the sole defendant.

The plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether the CAC’s action in changing their names as ALGON trustees—based on the investigation report and resolution of the House of Representatives Committee on States and Local Governments—violated their right to fair hearing, as enshrined in Section 851(4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020 (as amended), and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

They also sought clarification on whether the CAC could validly replace or appoint additional trustees for ALGON based solely on the resolution of the House Committee, given the mandatory provisions of Sections 834 and 835 of CAMA.

Among their reliefs, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare that the removal or substitution of the 2nd to 6th plaintiffs as trustees—without a valid resolution passed at a general meeting of the association and without the written assent of the association’s board—is unlawful. They contended that such action, based solely on the House Committee’s resolution, is unknown to law and constitutes a violation of their right to fair hearing under Section 851(3) & (4) of CAMA, 2020.

The plaintiffs further requested a declaration that the CAC, under Sections 834 and 835 of CAMA, cannot rely on the House Committee’s resolution to alter ALGON’s trusteeship.

Additional reliefs sought include an order directing the CAC to immediately cancel the status report issued on August 20, 2024, and to revert to the status report issued on December 12, 2023, as the valid and authentic status of the association.

They also sought “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the CAC from tampering with or altering the trusteeship status of ALGON, except through a valid resolution passed at a general meeting of the first plaintiff.”

In a 17-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Shaban Shuaibu in support of the suit, the plaintiffs averred that the House of Representatives Committee on States and Local Governments is not a member of ALGON and that no general meeting of the association’s trustees was convened to authorise, by resolution, the alteration of their names.

“That the Registrar-General did not, before or after acting on the House Committee’s resolution, invite me or any of us to be heard as required by law.

“That we deserve to be heard by the defendant under any circumstances before it purported to remove our names,” Shuaibu stated in the affidavit.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE