The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has retained the suspension of the Annual General Meeting of Oando Plc in 2017 despite a recent court ruling.
SEC in a statement on Friday said due to conflicting courts ruling in cases challenging its directives, the suspension order remains.
The Commission stated: “Given the conflicting judgments of the High Courts of coordinate jurisdiction, the Commission hereby advises the public that in line with the law (please see Vaswani Trading Co. v. Savalakh & Co. (1972) NSCC 692 and Ojukwu v. Military Governor of Lagos State (1986) 1 NWLR (Pt 18) 621) and the pending appeals/applications for stay of the various judgments, parties, and relevant stakeholders are enjoined to maintain status quo, which includes the suspension of the Annual General Meeting, pending the determination of the cases and the appeals.
“The Commission will update relevant stakeholders and the public on the outcome of the ongoing litigations”.
SEC which listed several judgments of different courts held that the implications are:
1. One judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos (as mentioned above) has held that the Federal High Court Nigeria lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the dispute as the jurisdiction lies with the Investments & Securities Tribunal.
2. Three judgments of the Federal High Court, Abuja (as mentioned above) have held that the Federal High Court Nigeria lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the dispute as the jurisdiction lies with the Investments& Securities Tribunal.
3. One judgment of the Federal Capital Territory, High Court Bwari Abuja (as mentioned above) has held that the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja has the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and granted the reliefs sought by the Applicants.
“4. One judgment of the Federal High Court, Kano (as mentioned above) has held that the Federal High Court Nigeria has the jurisdiction to entertain the dispute and granted the reliefs against the Commission”.
Ada Peter
