‘Retirement Of TCN Directors Not On Cancelled AGM Agenda’

The purported retirement and removal of directors and representatives of Ikeja Hotel Plc (IHPLC) from the Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) board was not included in the notice and agenda for the cancelled Annual General Meeting (AGM), a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Anthony Idigbe, has said.

SEC had cancelled the AGM due to its ongoing regulatory intervention and subsisting interim court order mandating the maintenance of the status quo.

Despite the directive, some members of the TCN board went ahead with the AGM on Friday.

A statement by Idigbe on Sunday, issued through his personal assistant, Philomena Philips, said the removal of the chairman or directors was not on the agenda of an Emergency Board of Directors meeting held on July 22, 2025, nor in the one used for the cancelled AGM.

It stated “our attention has been drawn to an unauthorised publication attributed to The Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) alleging the removal of Chief Dr Anthony Idigbe as its chairman at the Emergency Board of Directors meeting held on July 22, 2025 and his alleged retirement and removal as a director together with Alhaji Abatcha Bulama the other SEC-appointed director and representative of Ikeja Hotel Plc (IHPLC) at a purported AGM of the company allegedly held on July 25, 2025 in Lagos despite the cancellation of the AGM by the regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).”

It added that “appropriate reports have been made to the SEC by the SEC-appointed directors under the February 17, 2017, settlement agreement between the disputing shareholders of Alex Ibru/OMA Investment and RFC on the one hand and Goodie Ibru/AVI on the other hand in Ikeja Hotel Plc (IHPL), a company listed on the NGX and investor and substantial creditors of TCN, among other companies.

“The purpose of the regulatory intervention in IHPLC and its investee companies was to prevent the business from collapsing, restore corporate governance, and resolve the deadlock.”

The statement noted, “the purported retirement and removal of the SEC-appointed directors and representatives of IHPLC from the TCN board was not included in the notice and agenda for the cancelled AGM, as published in the newspapers, scheduled for July 25, 2025.”

Idigbe noted that although the aggrieved shareholders have gone to court and obtained orders against the SEC, saying “they do not seem to have faith in the rule of law and instead seek to resort to self-help, utilising their perceived media influence to obtain unlawful remedies through unauthorised publication.”