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| Late Alex Ibru and his wife Maiden Ibru |
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Mrs. Maiden Ibru, widow of the late publisher of The Guardian Newspaper, Alex Ibru, over the winding up of the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos.
Ibru, who petitioned on behalf of Omamo Investment Corporation, had filed the suit, seeking to wind up Tourist Company of Nigeria, owners of the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos over a N2 billion debt, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.She also prayed the court to appoint a provisional liquidator in the person of the President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria to supervise the winding up of the company.
The petitioner further sought the leave of the court to advertise the winding up in any national newspaper since they had tried to recover the debt to no avail.
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In its objection, Tourist Company of Nigeria urged the court to strike out the suit on the grounds that it was not only incompetent, but also disclosed no reasonable cause of action and amounted to a grievous abuse of court process.
Ruling in the matter, Justice Mohammed Liman held that the only issue for determination was whether there was any valid demand notice issued to the Tourist Company in accordance with Sections 408 and 409 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004.
He held that there was no valid demand notice as the letter of demand was signed by a solicitor instead of the company’s secretary.
“It is very clear that a solicitor cannot sign a letter of demand on behalf of its client under Section 409 (a) of CAMA. Under no guise can the letter be signed by a solicitor because the law does not permit it,” he said.
Liman also held that the claim by the petitioner that they had sent several demand letters to the respondent was not before the court as it was only one demand letter that was annexed to the suit.
“The only one that was presented was written under the seal of the counsel to the petitioner and again this is not in accordance with the law.
“Having not complied with the statutory conditions of the law, the petition fails and it is hereby dismissed,” he said.
The judge held that since the petition had failed, the motion to advertise was no longer necessary.
