NAPPS holds 17th annual conference, debunks court restrictions.

NAPPS holds 17th annual conference, debunks court restrictions.

 By Fashina Shakiru

The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Nigeria (NAPPS) has debunked online reports of the ongoing 17th Annual General Conference held at the Baze University, FCT Abuja, that an Area Court in Abuja granted an injunction halted at the People’s Conference.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees, NAPPS Nigeria, led by Dr. Said Mijinyawa, said the false reports, purportedly spread by the suspended president, Chief Yomi Otubela, were desperate, and the court lacked an injunction. These rumours are completely unfounded, and the conference is proceeding as planned without any legal hindrance.

In a statement released to Fly Cable News on Wednesday, NAPPS board secretary’s Chief Sakiru Adesina Raji said Otubale’s continued claims to party leadership directly undermined the court’s judgment. While urging all the stakeholders and general members to disregard the rumours purportedly spread by its suspended president, Chief Yomi Otubela.

He explained further that Otubela used this signature to falsely authenticate a fraudulent letter. This misleading document was distributed with the aim of announcing the postponement of the upcoming conference, intending to deceive the association’s members and create confusion about the event’s scheduling. Such actions were deliberately orchestrated to manipulate the situation to his advantage under false.

Raji noted that the same way Otubela managed to illicitly obtain the signatures of a group of individuals whom he falsely represented as his Board of Trustees. With these falsified endorsements, he approached Sterling Bank of Nigeria, aiming to manipulate the bank’s policies and impose a pay-no-debit restriction on the association fraudster whose consistent fraudster whose consistent fraudster whose consistent fraudster whose consistent behaviour showcases a pattern of deceit and manipulation.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is actively conducting a thorough investigation into the activities of an individual who allegedly exploited the commission’s processes to register a different name for an association, despite the fact that there’s an ongoing legal battle concerning this exact issue pending in court. This inquiry aims to uncover any potential misuse of authority or breaches of protocol used to achieve such registration, which seemingly circumvent the usual legal or procedural standards, Raji emphasised.

A copy of the case file Fly Cable News sighted by NAPPS’s legal adviser, S.O. Abitogun Esq, revealed that a purported order of his Lordship, Hon. Ibrahim Kagarko of Grade 1, Area Court of the FCT, held at ACO, Lugbe, in Motion No. MT/72/2024 was discovered flying around on various social media platforms of the platform of members of the association to cause confusion and undue apprehension.

According to him, “the purported order revealed to NAPPS showed all that the signature on the said order is not that of Hon. Ibrahim Kagarko, of Lugbe Grade One Area Court, before whom the said motion ex-parte was alleged to have come up, but rather the signature appeared more to be that of Hon. Gambo of Upper Area Court, Kuje, Abuja.”
Abitogun claimed the court stamp on the presiding judge is from the Upper Area Court, Kuje Abuja, contradicting the order in Motion No. MT/72/2024.

The motion-exparte pertains to the incorporated Trustees of NAPPS, a subject covered by the Companies and Allied Matter Act, 2020, with exclusive jurisdiction in the Federal High Court.
NAPPS’s contention that, Upper Area Courts, like other area courts, typically have jurisdiction over issues concerning customary law, Islamic law, and some civil and criminal matters within their geographical area, but they do not have authority to handle matters related to incorporated Trustees.

However, the claim that Hon. Gambo was inadvertently signing a motion without hearing it creates confusion and injustice. The matter is already pending in the Federal High Court.