April 14, (THEWILL) – The Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) sitting in Abuja has adjourned to May 12, 2025, for the hearing of a suit filed by the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC) against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dangote Industries Limited, and five other respondents.
At the resumed sitting on Monday, BIPC’s counsel, Joseph Henkyaa, applied for the withdrawal of an earlier motion to enable the plaintiffs regularise their court processes and refile the suit in accordance with legal requirements.
Henkyaa explained that although all parties involved were legal entities at the time the matter was originally settled in 2006, subsequent developments revealed that some of them had ceased to exist, necessitating their exclusion from the refiled suit.
Chairman of the four-member tribunal panel, Mr. Amos Azi, granted the application and allowed the plaintiffs to amend and refile their processes.
He also ordered that all parties involved be duly served with the amended suit, while the matter was adjourned to May 12 for hearing.
The case stems from an agreement entered into in 2006 between BIPC and Dangote Industries Limited, which was supervised by SEC.
The plaintiffs are accusing the fifth respondent, Dangote Industries, of breaching the terms of the agreement, prompting their recourse to the tribunal.
According to BIPC, the matter had previously been struck out by the tribunal on March 30, 2006, following a decision by both parties to settle out of court. A copy of the agreed Terms of Settlement was submitted to the tribunal as part of the record.
The plaintiffs stated that the settlement terms had only been partially fulfilled, citing a Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) banker’s cheque of N86,420,898.20 as evidence of partial compliance.
BIPC is now demanding the full allotment of 111,438,493 units of shares as stipulated in the Terms of Settlement. Additionally, the company is seeking payment of accrued dividends and other entitlements, amounting to N65.87 billion as of August 1, 2024, following the alleged takeover of the company by Dangote Industries.
Chairman Azi adjourned the case to May 12, 2025, for substantive hearing.
