Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Wale Igbintade in Lagos The Chairman of The Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN),  Dr Anthony Idigbe (SAN), has said that reports of his purported removal at the emergency board of directors meeting claimed to have been held on July 22, 2025, were unfounded.In a statement by his Personal Assistant, Philomena Philips, Idigbe, who is also the Senior Partner, PUNUKA Attorneys & Solicitors and Chairman,  Hans Gremlin Limited, stated that the issue of the removal of the chairman was not on the agenda.

He listed the only items for discussion on the said day as: “Opening, apologies, reading and adoption of the agenda, disclosure of conflict of interest, business of the day – consideration of the memo on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) forensic audit findings and directives and their implementation thereof, and closure of meeting.” Earlier, some reports had asserted that the board of TCN had announced a major shake-up in its leadership structure, removing Idigbe and appointing Mrs Erejuwa Gbadebo as the new chairperson of the board.But a statement which emanated from Idigbe, obtained by THISDAY stated that the chairman closed the meeting when it became rowdy, noting that, in fact, the items on the agenda for that day were not discussed.Idigbe insisted that his alleged removal as chair as well as retirement and removal as a director together with Alhaji Abatcha Bulama, the other SEC-appointed director and representative of Ikeja Hotel Plc (IHPLC) at the purported Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the TCN allegedly held on July 25, 2025 at Federal Palace Hotel Victoria Island was without basis.

He maintained that the so-called AGM had been cancelled by the regulators, the SEC and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). “The removal of the chairman was not on the agenda. The chairman closed the meeting when the meeting became rowdy. The items on the agenda were not discussed. The company is still under regulatory action by the Securities and Exchange Commission. “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. “Chief Idigbe is proud of the work he, the board, and management have done over the years, leading to the share price moving from 70 kobo in 2017 to N23 last week, creating over 3,000 per cent in value for the shareholders. 

“The cash reserves of IHPLC over the period have grown from negative to over N20 billion. The current contrived crisis from the agenda reproduced above is driven by the release on June 27, 2025, of the SEC’s findings and directives on the forensic audit conducted on the group by Deloitte.      “Shareholders, that is, Alex Ibru/OMA Investment/RFC group, who were dissatisfied with the SEC’s findings and directives, have taken their grievances to court. The attempt to make Chief Idigbe the issue is an afterthought and a disingenuous scheme to buy time,” the statement added.From the first day in 2017, when  Idigbe presided over the first meeting of the board of IHPLC and discovered that the agenda he approved for the meeting was altered without his knowledge, the statement said that he applied and obtained the SEC and IHPLC board approval to have PUNUKA Nominees Ltd, now OOT Nominees Limited, as the Company Secretary.“It has been so for eight years without complaint.

The Nominations Committee of the TCN board reviews the performance of OOT Nominees Ltd. periodically and has consistently approved their performance over the years,” it added.The statement described as interesting the fact that as recently as July 25, 2025 the directors of TCN responsible for the alleged removal of Idigbe as chairman on July 22, 2025, despite cancellation of the AGM fixed for that day purported to have held an AGM on July 25, 2025 based on a notice and agenda with a forged signature of OOT Nominees Ltd fraudulently backdated to July 1, 2025.According to the statement, it had such items on the agenda fraudulently inserted and different from the original Notice and Agenda dated July 1, 2025 and published by OOT Nominees Limited in various newspapers. “These are the sorts of characters that Chief Idigbe has unfortunately had to deal with in the course of his regulatory work at IHPLC and TCN. 

 “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. “To achieve their unlawful intention of removing Chief Idigbe and Alhaji Bulama as directors, the disgruntled directors not only resorted to self-help but also to fraud.  “Although the aggrieved shareholders have gone to court and obtained orders against the SEC, 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. “Despite the above distraction, Chief Idigbe has vowed to remain focused on concluding the national duty and service of resolving the IHPLC problem, which is nearing completion,” the statement added.

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