Barring any change of mind by the under-fire Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr. Garba Abubakar, he would soon receive court summons from fiery human rights lawyer, Mr. Maxwell Opara.

In a Pre-action Notice made available to CITY LAWYER, Opara warned that unless the CAC chief executive submits his annual statutory report to the Nigerian Bar Association, he would have no choice than to ask the court to compel the Registrar-General to perform his statutory duties.

Opara stated his “unalloyed shock at the way and manner the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC), under your leadership, has blatantly refused to release your annual statutory report to the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) during its Annual General Conference held in Port Harcourt, River State between 22nd to 29th of October, 2021.”

He added that having travelled to Port Harcourt and “planned, among other things, to have the opportunity to listen to your commission’s annual statutory report and ask questions on the various issues bedeviling the CAC since you took over at the helm of affairs,” the Registrar-General “failed to grace the occasion and failed to send any representative for purposes of presenting the required annual statutory report. This unprecedented disregard for a vital process of public service has exhibited your leadership’s unfriendly disposition towards the NBA and total trashing of transparency and efficiency.”

The activist-lawyer noted “that the requirement for the submission of the CAC annual statutory report is in compliance with law and as such your commission is under obligation to comply with the law. More so, the submission of the annual statutory report is an extremely important process through which your commission is to demonstrate transparency and efficiency in the service of the Nigerian people and in relation to stakeholders who work closely with the commission in fulfilling its mandate, for instance the NBA.”

He therefore demanded “that your commission should immediately submit the annual statutory report to the NBA in line with law and to tender an unreserved apology to the NBA,” adding: “TAKE NOTICE that this is my pre-action notice, wherefore in the unfortunate event that you fail to comply with the demand herewith, I shall approach the court for redress.”

The NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata reportedly told delegates at the recently concluded Annual General Conference that “It is clear to me that he (Abubakar) is unhappy because the bad press he is receiving now as Registrar is from us. The complaints from lawyers who use the service of CAC is that the Commission is doing a really terrible job. We have set up Task Force and created Helpdesk, yet the complaints kept coming.”

Abubakar has been roundly lampooned by most lawyers for gross inefficiency of the corporate registry.

Below is the full text of the pre-action notice.

November 2, 2021.

The Registrar General
Corporate Affairs Commission
Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Maitama
900271
ABUJA-FCT.

Sir,

RE: FAILURE TO SUMBIT THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION’S (CAC) 2020/2021 ANNUAL STATUTORY REPORT TO THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCATION(NBA) DURING ITS ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE HELD BETWEEN 22ND TO 29TH OCTOBER, 2021 AT PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE.

DEMAND FOR THE SUBMISSION OF THE CAC’S 2020/2021 ANNUAL STATUTORY REPORT TO THE NBA

PRE-ACTION NOTICE PURSUANT TO SECTION 17 OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 2020.

My name is Maxwell Opara, Esq. I am a senior legal practitioner in Nigeria.

I write in the afore stated capacity to express my unalloyed shock at the way and manner the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC), under your leadership, has blatantly refused to release your annual statutory report to the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) during its Annual General Conference held in Port Harcourt, River State between 22nd to 29th of October, 2021.

During the said Annual General Conference of the NBA, I traveled to Port Harcourt, the venue of the conference, and had planned, among other things, to have the opportunity to listen to your commission’s annual statutory report and ask questions on the various issues bedeviling the CAC since you took over at the helm of affairs.

Unfortunately, you failed to grace the occasion and failed to send any representative for purposes of presenting the required annual statutory report. This unprecedented disregard for a vital process of public service has exhibited your leadership’s unfriendly disposition towards the NBA and total trashing of transparency and efficiency.

It may interest you to know that the requirement for the submission of the CAC annual statutory report is in compliance with law and as such your commission is under obligation to comply with the law. More so, the submission of the annual statutory report is an extremely important process through which your commission is to demonstrate transparency and efficiency in the service of the Nigerian people and in relation to stakeholders who work closely with the commission in fulfilling its mandate, for instance the NBA.

Therefore, it is my duty as a legal practitioner and a stakeholder to uphold the rule of law and transparency in governance.

It is in the afore mentioned backdrop that I write to demand that your commission should immediately submit the annual statutory report to the NBA in line with law and to tender an unreserved apology to the NBA.

TAKE NOTICE that this is my pre-action notice, wherefore in the unfortunate event that you fail to comply with the demand herewith, I shall approach the court for redress.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully.

…………………………………….
Maxwell Opara, Esq.

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