Thursday, June 28, 2012

Tussle over Dangote’s NSE presidency shifts to supreme court

The legal tussle over the propriety or otherwise of the election of Alhaji Aliko Dangote as the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) has shifted to the Supreme Court as the shareholders of African Petroleum (AP) Plc have asked the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which made way for the business mogul to resume as  NSE president.
Justice Lambo Akanbi of a Federal High Court in Lagos, it will be recalled, nullified Dangote’s election as NSE president, on the ground that it was in violation of a subsisting order that parties should maintain status quo in a suit filed by some aggrieved shareholders of AP Plc against Dangote, a stock broking firm, Nova Finance and Securities Limited and others over the allegation that AP’s share prices were manipulated.
This decision was, however, overruled by the Appeal Court following an appeal lodged by Dangote against the ruling of the lower court.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal set aside the decision of the lower court and held that there were no bases for the decision of the lower court.
On the nullification of the NSE president election, the Court of Appeal held that since the court was wrong to order parties to maintain status quo, there was no need to annul the election.
However, the aggrieved AP shareholders, dissatisfied with the appellate court’s decision , asked the apex court to set aside the judgment.

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