Court Declares SEC’s Sanctions Against Oando Management Null, Void

Oando shareholders in the persons of Alhaji Yakubu Gumel; Alhaji Kabiru Tambari, suing for himself and on behalf of the Sokoto Zone Shareholders Association; Tunde Badmus, suing for himself and for the benefits of Pacesetters Shareholders Association, bagged yet another win at the Federal High Court (FHC) Kano, in a suit filed against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for overreaching its powers.
Justice A. Lewis Allagoa presiding over the ruling, dismissed the regulators preliminary objection and granted all the reliefs sought by the Oando Shareholders.
The FHC Kano dismissed SEC’s objection on the basis that the shareholders’ claims fall under their rights as shareholders according to the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and is therefore not a capital markets issue, hence it is completely under the jurisdiction of the FHC under Section 251 of the constitution.
The Court further held that SEC was wrong in assuming that the shareholders were challenging SEC’s regulatory powers over Oando, whereas what the shareholders claimed is that SEC exceeded its regulatory powers thereby making all their actions to date illegal and an infringement of their rights.
The Court further granted all the prayers sought by the Oando shareholders, specifically that SEC intervening in Oando Plc’s management without sharing the forensic audit report that led to the sanctions against the company and concerned Directors was the regulator acting beyond the scope of its powers.
Also, that SEC acted arbitrarily in suspending the management of Oando and therefore declared the appointment of the interim management null and void; the Court, therefore, awarded a N250,000 cost against SEC in favor of the Oando shareholders.