Senate President, David Mark
Former staff of the privatized Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have expressed misgivings over the reference by Senate President David Mark to what they called a “false claim by Folio
Communications” that a suit on the sale of the company was still pending in court.
Communications” that a suit on the sale of the company was still pending in court.
The workers alleged that Mark’s reference to a purported petition by Folio during a debate on the report of the Senate ad hoc committee that investigated the activities of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to date was a subtle attempt to skip discussion on one of the committee’s recommendations that stripped Folio of its controversial 140 million shares in DTN.
But Chairman of the committee, Senator Ahmad Lawan (ANPP, Yobe), in a reaction on the floor of the Senate, dismissed the said pending court case as false, insisting that the committee only upheld the ruling of the court which had since sacked Folio from DTN.
The former workers said in a petition they sent to the Senate President, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent at the weekend, that the court had in a ruling in suit no, FHC/L/CP/1328/2009, which Mark had alluded to, stripped Folio Communications of its 140 million share holding in DTN which it allegedly acquired after the sale of company’s asset.
The former Daily Times workers, in their two-page petition signed by their lawyer Mr Okundaye and dated December 1, said that Folio had since ceased to own a single share in DTN, even as they detailed how Folio allegedly sold some of the company’s property in London and mortgaged its Agidingbi, Ikeja head office to obtain a loan of N800 million from Afribank plc.
The petition reads: “It is our clients’ instruction to clarify to you (Senate President) that there are three valid and subsisting and final judgments of court which have thankfully sacked Folio Communications from DTN.
“The application of Folio Communications to the court of Appeal for stay of execution was also dismissed.
“Folio Communications did not put a kobo in the acquisition of DTN. To meet the purchase price they obtained an investment from another company in exchange for 40 percent of the shares and then mortgaged the assets of DTN to raise the remaining sum with which they paid for their shares, and thereafter systematically looted the assets of DTN, including dismantling and selling the press.”
“The application of Folio Communications to the court of Appeal for stay of execution was also dismissed.
“Folio Communications did not put a kobo in the acquisition of DTN. To meet the purchase price they obtained an investment from another company in exchange for 40 percent of the shares and then mortgaged the assets of DTN to raise the remaining sum with which they paid for their shares, and thereafter systematically looted the assets of DTN, including dismantling and selling the press.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com