N9bn deal: Stockbroker, a gold-digger and a hardcore rogue, says Oyedepo’s lawyer

The counsel for the Founder, Living Faith Church a.k.a. Winners'
Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, Mr. Chioma Okwuanyi, has accused the
stock brokerage firm, Valueline Securities and Investment Limited,
which sued his client and others, of being on a gold-digging mission.
But Okwuanyi vowed that the law would catch up with the firm.
He said, "As far as I am concerned, Valueline are just on a
gold-digging mission. They are just there looking for a scapegoat but
the law must surely catch up with them.
"They defrauded investors by going to obtain margin loans purportedly
on behalf of investors without telling the investors. How can that be
done? We did the correct thing by going to the regulatory body to say
look at what these people did.
"We were before the regulatory body for 21 months, nobody complained.
After they had issued their report, Valueline, having seen that it was
against them, rushed to the Federal High Court. Is that justice? So,
as far as I am concerned, they are just gold-digging but the law must
take its course."
Valueline and its Managing Director, Samuel Enyinnaya, had instituted
a legal action against the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oyedepo and nine
others alleging breach of contract and claiming about N1.86bn in
damages jointly and severally against the defendants.
In their suit marked FHC/L/CS/1999/2014, the plaintiffs were
challenging their trial before the NSE which had frozen their business
accounts over the saga.
The plaintiffs asked the court to "declare that the NSE had been
conducting the trial before it in a manner prejudicial to the their
fundamental right to fair hearing."
They prayed the court to reverse what they described as malicious
freezing of their trading accounts by the NSE.
Besides, the plaintiffs urged the court to compel the NSE to pay them
N61m for the closure of their accounts and to make an order compelling
the first to 10th defendants to pay them N780m, being their unpaid
professional fees for managing their investment portfolio.
In addition, the plaintiffs also want N1bn in damages jointly and
severally against the defendants for the trauma and psychological
torture and loss of reputation they suffered by the actions of the
defendants as well as N25m solicitors fees and the cost of instituting
the action.
But in their own objection, the 1st to 10th defendants, through their
lawyer, Okwuanyi, argued that, "Contrary to the intendment and spirit
of the agreement and in violent desecration of all known investment
criteria and without the courtesy of informing the investors, the
plaintiffs went berserk on a borrowing spree.
"This was compounded by the fact that the borrowing was not done on
behalf of the 1st to the 10th defendants because all the margin loans
were in the name of the plaintiffs and their cronies. None was in the
name of the 1st to the 10th defendants.
"The 1st to the 10th defendants vehemently protested the borrowing and
rejected same as borrowing was and still banned in the activities of
the 1st to the 10th defendants.
"The losses occasioned to the investment of the 1st to the 10th
defendants were as a result of the negligence and recklessness of the
plaintiffs. It was an outright fraud.
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"None of the reports submitted by the plaintiffs captured the margin
borrowing because they were all in their names and not in the name or
on behalf of the 1st to the 10th defendants.
"The 1st to the 10th defendants officially complained to the Nigeria
Stock Exchange, who in accordance with its regulatory functions and
duties, set up a panel to investigate the complaint.
"The panel painstakingly investigated the complaint for almost two
years and came out with an interim report."
Okwuanyi, however, told the court to throw out the case for want of
jurisdiction, insisting that the Federal High Court could not by law
entertain the matter, which was already before the NSE panel.
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