The Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) on Sunday allayed the fears of some Christians over the suit filed against the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) and Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment on the controversial Companies Allied Matters Acts ( CAMA) 2020.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, dismissed the earlier suit over the failure of the Association (the plaintiff) to comply with the law in the name used in filing the originating summons.
According to a statement in Abuja by the General Secretary of CAN, Barrister Joseph Daramola, the organization said: ‘’The Court held that the proper name of the Plaintiff is THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, as stated on the Plaintiff’s Certificate of Incorporation as against THE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; and the Court is unable to allow the replacement of name on the originating process.
‘’At the sitting, the Court delivered the ruling on the Plaintiff’s Application for Amendment of Originating Summons. In the ruling, Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo stated that suing in the wrong name contrary to a statutory provision is statutory non-compliance and is not a mere misnomer to be corrected by the Court, as the court cannot re-write statutory provisions. The suit was accordingly struck out.
‘’The court held that the proper name of the Plaintiff is THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF CHRISTIAN Association of Nigeria, as stated on the Plaintiff’s Certificate of Incorporation as against The incorporated TRUSTEES OF CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; and the Court is unable to allow the replacement of the name on the originating process.
‘’The new Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 states clearly under section 825(a) that registration of all ASSOCIATIONS must contain the words ‘’INCORPORATED TRUSTEES of…’’.
‘’This should have sustained our action before the court because the use of REGISTERED TRUSTEES is now being discarded. Our amendment ought to have been allowed. However, we will not like to join issues with the Court by going on appeal because it would further delay the case. Accordingly, we decided to choose the other option of refilling the case.