Obidike Jerry

Traders at the Balogun Business Association International Shopping Mall, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, recently carried out a peaceful protest against the arrest and detention of its president, Chief Tony Obih.

The traders alleged that their president, Obih, had gone to Abuja on the invitation of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over alleged forgery of some documents found in the association’s file at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). They said he was on his way back from Abuja when he was picked up at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, by the police and taken to Zone 2.

Some of the placards read: “We want peace;” “We are tired of police arrest and intimidation of our president;” “We stand by Tony Bell;” “Okey Ezibe should leave BBA alone,” and many others. They pleaded with the police to unravel the mastermind behind the forgery instead of the current intimidation and harassment of their president.

Five former presidents of the association also participated in the protest. Anslem Dunu, Tony Akanegbu, Leonard Ogbonna and Chief Alex Obi-Odunukwe said their current president, Mr. Tony Obih, had no need to forge a document to enjoy what the constitution had already given to him.

According to them, by virtue of the provisions of the current constitution of the market, the president, general secretary and treasurer are automatic members of the board of trustees, just as the current president of the market shall be the chairman of the BOT. They also believe that the contentious document in their file must be the handiwork of those against the registration of their new constitution with the CAC.

However, Mr. Okey Ezibe, who also spoke with Daily Sun, insisted that Tony Obih forged the document found in their file at the CAC and should face the consequences.

His words: “Mr. Tony Obih committed forgery. He went and doctored our document at the CAC, claiming that we had a meeting with dead people, which never held. Instead of facing the charges before the police, they went about recruiting helpless women and idle hands to carry placards for them in the guise of demonstration or protest.”

Mr. Ezibe said he could not have forged a document for another person to reap the benefits.

“Let them produce evidence to back or support their claim. So, how did I forge the document for another person to be the beneficiary? By the way, are they the ones to teach the police how to do their job? It was during police investigation that police discovered that some of the people they claimed were present at the meeting and participated actively were dead people. This thing did not happen overnight because they submitted to CAC minutes of the meeting, which never held. So, how can they claim that the police did not investigate the matter? In fact, I have a copy of the sworn declaration by a female trustee who is presently in America who they claimed moved the motion for adjournment after the meeting. But she denied participating at the meeting. Somebody who has committed a crime should face the law.”

Both parties – Obih and Ezibe – gave the reporter documents to support their positions.

Speaking with the reporter shortly after he regained freedom, Obih stated that his ordeal started when he decided to put the provisions of their constitution into maximum effect through their lawyers.

Said he: “We have a subsisting constitution before the amended one. The amended one has not been registered but the subsisting constitution made it clear that the president of the union shall be a member of the board and also shall preside over the meeting of the board. He shall direct the summoning of board meetings. And this was the same constitution that brought Okey Ezibe in as president. In fact, Okey Ezibe wrote the constitution during his own time to favour him. That is, the president of the union shall be the chairman of the board. So, this constitution has been in existence for more than 20 years now.”

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Indeed background checks confirmed that Obih’s predecessors were aware of this constitutional provision but could not, perhaps, muster the courage to actualize it. But when Prince Tony Akanegbu (aka Adidas) was in power between 2005 and 2008 he temporarily activated that provision while he lasted as the president. However, it engendered a lot of tension in the market throughout that period. Thereafter, succeeding presidents, including Anselem Dunu, Leonard Ogbonnia, Alex Obi-Odunukwe decided to give peace a chance and allowed Ezibe to preside as chairman BOT. But Obih, again, resolved to challenge the status quo.

“So, when I came in as the president of the union, I decided to implement what the constitution said, which Okey Ezibe benefitted from. I went to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) through our lawyer for the addition of three names, president, Tony Obih, general secretary, Jones Okpala, and treasurer, John Ezeako, according to the provisions of our constitution. CAC complied with our request and added the names, as trustees. We did not remove anybody.

“But when Ezibe saw it, he pleaded with me to go and reverse it because that action effectively removed him as presiding officer and chairman of the BOT. He wants to be chairman of the BOT for life, which is against our constitution. But I said no to his request. I told him that the easiest way out is for us to register our new draft constitution, which says that the General Assembly shall nominate the board members. Then the board members will now have election among themselves to get chairman and secretary. So, that is why Ezibe did not want the new constitution to be registered, because it did not favour him.”

Moving forward, Obih believes strongly that Ezibe must be the mastermind behind the forged documents since he rejected Ezibe’s plea to reverse the action.

“So, Okey Ezibe and his allies forged the document at CAC to convince the CAC to cancel our registration, the addition of myself as the president, Okpala as general secretary and Ezeako as treasurer. In the petition they wrote to CAC, they said that CAC was deceived into admitting our names and as such should nullify or cancel our registration. They also prayed the CAC to retain their own certificate as the authentic one.

“I told you that we did not remove anyone among the old trustees, even the dead ones. Our constitution says that their removal shall be by the general assembly through a resolution. So we have no powers to remove them. So what we did was ordinary addition according to the provision of our constitution. The petition by Ezibe and his allies claimed that we forged the minutes of the general house that mandated us to request for the addition where two dead men participated. The first one, according to them, moved motion for adoption and the second seconded and another BOT member who had since relocated to America moved the motion for adjournment. You see how they planned it?”

But recalled that Ezibe had told the reporter that he and two others were the culprits and that they were not informed before their arrest, Obih countered:

“How can I forge a document when our prevailing constitution made me a member of the board? What is the essence of forging a document to become a trustee when the same constitution made me automatic trustee? Does it make sense?

“These people are evil. So, they wanted anything that would convince CAC to cancel the certificate they issued to me. Not only that we were asked to make publication in the newspaper, which we did, and it lasted for 28 days and nobody challenged it. That was why CAC went ahead to issue that certificate, which nullified Okey Ezibe’s own because when new certificate is issued it nullifies the old one.”

Obih further claimed that Ezibe, having lost out, wrote a petition to the CAC and Inspector-General of Police alleging that Obih did the forgery in order to send him to jail. He further said that the matter had been transferred from Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, to Abuja following a counter-petition written by stakeholders of the association. He claimed he was beaten and detained by the police after they arrested him at Ikeja airport on Tuesday, November 26, 2019. He showed the reporter the bruises he received as a result of the beating.

On the way forward, Ezibe said he initiated peace moves more than 12 times before his petition but Obih rejected his offer. He also said that his retaining the position of BOT chairman was to ensure a balance of power, arguing that there were no material benefits attached to the position.

Obih, on the other hand, said, for peace to reign in the association, Ezibe musts allow the new constitution of the association to be registered.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Frank Mba, did not respond to calls and text messages send to his phone.