By Henry Ojelu
LAGOS — Chairman of The Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc, Dr. Anthony Idigbe, SAN, has debunked reports of his purported removal from office, insisting that no such decision was taken at the company’s emergency board meeting held on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
Reacting to media reports suggesting his ouster, Idigbe, through a statement issued by his aide, Philomena Philips, described the allegations as false and misleading, noting that the issue of his removal was never listed nor discussed at the meeting.
According to the statement, the agenda of the board meeting was strictly limited to routine corporate governance items, with the principal focus being a review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) forensic audit findings and the subsequent directives for implementation.
“The removal of the chairman was not on the agenda,” the statement said. “The meeting was adjourned by the chairman after it became rowdy. As such, the substantive items on the agenda were not deliberated upon.”
Idigbe further clarified that the company remains under active regulatory oversight by the SEC, in line with a long-standing settlement agreement reached on February 17, 2017. The agreement was brokered to resolve a protracted dispute between the Alex Ibru/OMA Investment/RFC faction and the Goodie Ibru/AVI bloc over control of Ikeja Hotel Plc (IHPLC), which is listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and is a major investor in TCN.
He emphasised that the SEC’s regulatory intervention in IHPLC and its subsidiaries was aimed at preventing collapse, restoring corporate governance, and ending the shareholder deadlock that had plagued the company.
Idigbe highlighted that under his leadership, TCN has made remarkable progress, citing a leap in share value from ₦0.70 in 2017 to ₦23 as at last week, a development he attributed to sound board oversight and management efforts.
“The present contrived crisis,” the statement added, “arose following the SEC’s release of its findings and directives from a Deloitte-conducted forensic audit of the group on June 27, 2025. Some shareholders—specifically the Alex Ibru/OMA Investment/RFC group—who were dissatisfied with the findings, have taken the matter to court.”
He dismissed efforts to frame him as the source of the company’s problems, describing such moves as an “afterthought and a disingenuous scheme to buy time.” He maintained that the focus on his role is a deliberate diversion from the core issues raised in the forensic audit.
Tracing his stewardship, Idigbe recalled his first board meeting as chairman of IHPLC in 2017, where he discovered alterations to the approved meeting agenda. Following the incident, he secured board and regulatory approval for PUNUKA Nominees Ltd—now OOT Nominees Ltd—to serve as company secretary, a role the firm has performed without controversy for eight years.
He also disclosed that the board’s Nominations Committee has periodically reviewed and approved the performance of the secretarial firm without objection until now.
On the legal front, Idigbe accused aggrieved shareholders of adopting self-help tactics and exploiting media channels to pursue unlawful remedies despite already obtaining court orders against the SEC.
“Rather than allow the judicial process to run its course, they seem to lack faith in the rule of law and instead deploy media pressure as a tool to influence outcomes,” he said.
Despite what he termed distractions and attempts to derail progress, Idigbe vowed to stay focused on his mandate to resolve the longstanding IHPLC dispute and stabilise the company’s governance structure.
“This is a national assignment and service, and we are near completion,” he affirmed.
Dr. Idigbe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also chairs Ikeja Hotel Plc and Hans Gremlin Limited.
He has over four decades of experience in corporate governance, restructuring, dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, insolvency, oil and gas, and capital markets.
He is widely respected for his legal expertise and strategic advisory on high-value commercial transactions.
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