9th August, 2012
Directors of Newwatch magazine, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinninade have warned Lagos businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim against shutting down Newwatch magazine while he is owing the company N510 million for acquiring 51 percent of the company’s shares.
Ibrahim announced his decision to shut down the magazine on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference at Ladi Lawal Press Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, today, they told journalists that Ibrahim took an arbitrary decision which was illegal and ultra vires.
The Newswatch directors said since Ibrahim procured 51 percent of the company’s shares, he had incapacitated the magazine while reporters have no moral backing to work. They added that Ibrahim never paid the N510 million he was supposed to pay as a leading shareholder of the company since he came on board on 5 May, 2011.
The Newswatch directors claimed that Ibrahim had not paid salaries of staff for four months.
Ekpu said: “We are not going to back track over this illegality of Ibrahim. You cannot expect us to work for 28 years building an institution and then seek to watch it now in smoke.”
Ekpu said Ibrahim had refused to hold any meeting with other directors, yet, he had unilaterally carried out the decision to shut Newswatch.
He added that such decision has serious negative effect on the continued existence of the company.
Denying Ibrahim’s claim that he came into the company because it was financially distressed, Mr. Yakubu Mohammed said the businessman was brought in because they needed to expand the company.
According to Mohammed, they wanted to build a headquarters, go into newspaper production and establish a radio station. The Newswatch directors agreed that they made a mistake in accepting Ibrahim’s offer to buy 51 per cent of the company’s shares.
They warned other media outfit from making a similar mistake. “We urge him to pay the allowances of staff and their salaries and rescind his decision to relocate the headquarters of Newswatch to Marina while we continue to consult with stakeholders on the next line of action,” Ekpu said.
—Eromosele Ebhomele