UK court bans THISDAY Chairman, Nduka Obaigbena from serving as director of any company for 7 Years

A UK court has ruled that Nduka Obaigbena is guilty of unreliability and mismanaging the THISDAY group of companies in the UK. 

The application for disqualification was made under Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and arose from the compulsory liquidation of Arise Networks Ltd of which Obaigbena was the sole director since its incorporation on October 30, 2012.

According to the judgement, the company recorded no profit at December 31, 2013 and it had recorded losses in the excess amounting to £3,854,112 and debts of £1,545,883

The company however claimed that it faced the crisis period due to foreign exchange restrictions by the Nigerian government in September 2014 it faced hurdles to “transfer necessary funding to ARISE”.

In December 2014, the company had expense debts of more than £3 million. The debt owed to creditors led to increased pressure from late 2014 onwards due to the company’s inability to pay off its debts.

A paragraph of the judgement ruled by Judge Agnello partly read: “As of 31 December 2014, the total losses were £12,922,174, with trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) of £3,737,445 and associates being £14,407,929. By 31 December 2015, the total losses were £24,913,106 with the trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) in the sum of £5,635,596 and associates being £19,681,779. By 22 April 2016, the total losses were £25,671,167, trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) £5,850,730 and associated companies £20,313,691. The trade creditors rose by £2,113,285 even taking into account that certain liabilities have been discharged. The associated companies’ debt during this period rose by in excess of £5 million.”

An email quoted in the judgement read, “Hi Kevin/Nduka, Happy anniversary, I have been working under contract for six months at Arise. I’ve been paid one month’s money. February’s money is three months late. Still nothing, when will I get what is owed?”

According to the court, Obaigbena made efforts to clear some payments, but there were still large sums that remained outstanding. With no certainty of when any of the payments would be made, the court took into account that it did not consider the case of dishonesty but rather unreliability.

“However, this does not mean that the case is any less serious. The public interest is served in this case, in my judgement by disqualifying Mr Obaigbena for a period of 7 years,” the judgement read.

The United Kingdom has ruled a judgement banning the founding Chairman and Editor-in-chief of ARISE News Channel, ARISE Magazine and THISDAY Media, Nduka Obaigbena from occupying the directorial role in any company in the country for seven years. 

The court ruled that Obaigbena was guilty of unreliability and mismanaging the THISDAY group of companies in the UK. 

The application for disqualification was made under Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and arose from the compulsory liquidation of Arise Networks Ltd of which Obaigbena was the sole director since its incorporation on October 30, 2012.

According to the judgement, the company recorded no profit at December 31, 2013 and it had recorded losses in the excess amounting to £3,854,112 and debts of £1,545,883

The company however claimed that it faced the crisis period due to foreign exchange restrictions by the Nigerian government in September 2014 it faced hurdles to “transfer necessary funding to ARISE”.

In December 2014, the company had expense debts of more than £3 million. The debt owed to creditors led to increased pressure from late 2014 onwards due to the company’s inability to pay off its debts.

A paragraph of the judgement ruled by Judge Agnello partly read: “As of 31 December 2014, the total losses were £12,922,174, with trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) of £3,737,445 and associates being £14,407,929. By 31 December 2015, the total losses were £24,913,106 with the trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) in the sum of £5,635,596 and associates being £19,681,779. By 22 April 2016, the total losses were £25,671,167, trade creditors (which includes those working for the company) £5,850,730 and associated companies £20,313,691. The trade creditors rose by £2,113,285 even taking into account that certain liabilities have been discharged. The associated companies’ debt during this period rose by in excess of £5 million.”

An email quoted in the judgement read, “Hi Kevin/Nduka, Happy anniversary, I have been working under contract for six months at Arise. I’ve been paid one month’s money. February’s money is three months late. Still nothing, when will I get what is owed?”

According to the court, Obaigbena made efforts to clear some payments, but there were still large sums that remained outstanding. With no certainty of when any of the payments would be made, the court took into account that it did not consider the case of dishonesty but rather unreliability.

“However, this does not mean that the case is any less serious. The public interest is served in this case, in my judgement by disqualifying Mr Obaigbena for a period of 7 years,” the judgement read.