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By Tracy Moses
The Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) on Monday, April 14, 2025, advised the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC) Limited to re-file its case against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dangote Industries Limited, and five other respondents after the initial suit was withdrawn for corrections.
The Tribunal, presided over by Mr. Amos Azi, gave the directive during proceedings in Abuja, emphasizing that all relevant parties must be served with the new suit documents. The matter was subsequently adjourned to May 12, 2025, for hearing.
The dispute stems from a 2006 agreement between BIPC and the respondents, which was formalized as a court judgment. BIPC alleges that Dangote Industries Limited failed to honor the terms of the settlement, specifically the allotment of 111,438,493 units of shares owed to them.
When the case was mentioned on Monday, BIPC’s counsel, Joseph Henkyaa, informed the Tribunal of their intention to withdraw a motion to regularize court processes. He stated that the plaintiffs needed to make some corrections before re-filing the case, particularly noting that some of the parties involved in the original agreement no longer exist as legal entities.
He also acknowledged the Tribunal’s earlier decision in 2006 to strike out the matter following an out-of-court settlement between the parties. The current move seeks to revive the issue due to alleged non-compliance with the agreed terms.
The IST, after hearing from the counsel, ordered that the re-filed case be properly served to all relevant parties for the matter to proceed accordingly in May.
Following a series of meetings, the involved parties have finally reached an agreement to resolve the ongoing suit. As part of this resolution, they executed a Terms of Settlement, which has been formally submitted to the tribunal for acknowledgment.
The parties explained that the application to the tribunal was necessary in order to officially notify it of the existence of the Terms of Settlement. The plaintiffs also indicated that the settlement terms have already been partially fulfilled by both sides.
To support this claim, a copy of a DIL banker’s cheque amounting to N86,420,898.20 was attached, demonstrating the partial implementation of the agreed terms.
Meanwhile, the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC) is urging the tribunal to order the payment of outstanding dividends and other entitlements it claims have accrued since the takeover of the Cement Company. According to BIPC, this amount has reached N65,871,293,012.30 (Sixty-Five Billion, Eight Hundred and Seventy-One Million, Two Hundred and Ninety-Three Thousand, Twelve Naira, Thirty Kobo) as of August 1, 2024.