Newswatch Daily owner, Jimoh Ibrahim, sacked by court, fights back

Businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, has been sacked as the owner of Newswatch Magazine and Daily titles. A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday quashed the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) which transferred ownership of the publication to him following a petition filed by two minority shareholders — Nuhu Aruwa and Jubril Aminu.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Ibrahim Buba, upheld all the prayers of the minority shareholders which include restraining the respondents - Newswatch Communications Ltd, Global Media Mirror Ltd, Jimoh Ibrahim, Newswatch Newspapers and the Corporate Affairs Commission - from publishing and selling Newswatch daily and weekend magazines.

The judge also awarded the sum of N15.7 million as damages against Mr. Ibrahim.

Reacting to the judgement, Newswatch Communications said it “lacked legal foundation and moral reasoning.”

In a press release titled: “Two conflicting Federal High Court Decisions: Newswatch Heads for Appeal Court”, the company said it has already filed an appeal against the Justice Buba’s judgment.

Newswatch said another judge of the same Federal High Court, Lagos, Justice Okon Abang, had earlier ruled in favour of the majority shareholders, declaring the sales of the company to the new investor valid.

The 30-year-old publication was founded by the late journalist Dele Giwa who was killed by a letter bomb during the military era on October 16, 1986. The magazine was a household name during the military era.

Picture: nairaland

Its founders had purportedly transferred the majority shares to Mr. Ibrahim in 2011 but he had been locked in ownership struggle after firing the founding editors of the paper, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade.

One of the minority shareholders, Mr. Buba maintained that Ibrahim and his Global Mirror Ltd could not prove that they paid up for the shares of the company as they claim