By Edward Adamidenyo, Abuja Bureau Chief
Okpe Union of Delta State has written to the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, to restate that renowned Political Science Professor Igho Natufe is its elected President-General.
The pan-Okpe socio-cultural membership only organisation, therefore, urged the CAC to accord the leadership of Prof. Natufe and his executives, necessary recognition and ignore the alleged antics of one Prof. Emurobome Idolor who has been presenting himself as President General of the body.
A statement sent to _The Trumpet,_ signed by Prof. Natufe, President General, and Barrister Ehensiri Kingsley Akpederin, General Secretary, disclosed that the attention of the Okpe Union NEC has been drawn to the alleged dealing by the CAC with the said Prof. Idolor who is not authorised by it to regularise the processes of the Board of Trustees of the organization. The statement reads: We, the members of the elected National Executive Council of the Okpe Union ably led by Prof. Igho Natufe hereby state the following so that the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission and the general public
will be well guided.
This has become necessary as we have learnt that the self styled Interim National Executive Council members led by Prof. Emurobome Idolor, that have been parading themselves has sent a list of persons to the Corporate Affairs Commission and has applied to the Commission to register them as Trustees of the Okpe Union. This imposter group is said to be claiming leadership of the organisation on the basis of a publication signed by HRM, Orhue l, Orodje of Okpe, purporting to dissolve the elected National Executive Council of the Okpe Union and imposing the said Interim Executive comprising persons unknown to the various branches of the Okpe Union.
In order for the Corporate Affairs Commission in particular and the general public to understand the subject matter, the statement added that the National Executive Council on behalf of the various members and branches of the Okpe Union state as follows regarding recent developments: That the Okpe Union was founded in 1930 and registered with the Nigerian Colonial Government on the 13th of December, 1934 under the Lands(Perpetual Succession) Ordinance of 1924 with its constitution as a dues paying members only organisation. Its Registered Office from the current records of the Corporate Affairs Commission is No. 67, (now No. 65), Moshalashi Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Okpe Union has had an unbroken chain of democratic transition of leadership from its inception and registration in 1930 and 1934 respectively. Delegates from the branches of the organisation assemble in a National Conference/General Meeting at the expiration of the tenure ofan outgoing National Executive Council of the Okpe Union and elect a successor National Executive Council.
That the action of the Traditional Ruler, Orhue I, the Orodje of Okpe (who is neither a member of the Okpe Union nor given any administrative powers by the Constitution of the Okpe Union), on the 3rd of October, 2020, which purported to dissolve the elected National Executive Council and impose strangers on the Okpe Union as its
Interim National Executive Council is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to the provisions of the Union Constitution, inconsistent with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria especially the sections which guarantee freedom of association, and it is also a gross violation of various corporate governance laws of Nigeria.
That as the previous registered trustees of the Okpe Union had all passed on, the elected National Executive Council had begun the process of regularising the status of the Union with the Corporate Affairs Commission by requesting the Commission to furnish the Union with its indebtedness for failure to file returns and penalties for some years as well as applying to the Federal High Court, Lagos for an order to appoint trustees to replace the former ones who have all died which ruling is due in a few weeks.
On the 4th of June, 2021, the elected National Executive Council of the Okpe Union led by Prof Igho Natufe wrote to the Registrar General of the Commission (which was received by the Commission on the 7th of June, 2021) to complain about the moves of the said imposter group to which the Commission has not responded. We were therefore shocked to discover that the group has submitted a list of proposed trustees for the Okpe Union which the Union knows nothing about and which is a clear breach of the Union’s constitution and the country’s extant laws
and rules of the Commission. That by the Corporate governance laws of the Federation of Nigeria as well as the various regulations of the Corporate Affairs Commission relating to the administration of non governmental organisations especially registered trustees, no non members or persons unauthorised by the organisation ought to be recognised as representatives of that organisation.
Prof. Natufe and his executives therefore urged the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission to reject whatever applications that come to the Commission from Prof. Idolor and his unknown group or any other not authorised by the elected National Executive Council of the Okpe Union.
