The Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has been petitioned by two Abuja-based firms, Jonah Capital Limited and Houses for Africa Limited, urging his ministry to probe what they described as “the excesses” of the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN.
Petitioning on behalf of the companies, Ghanaian investor Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, KBE, accused the CAC Registrar-General of “unlawful expropriation of shares, extrajudicial removal of directors and retrospective invalidation of corporate filings.”
In a petition dated December 8, 2025, Jonah alleged that Magaji had unilaterally reversed nearly two decades of corporate records relating to JonahCapital Nigeria Ltd and Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd, destabilising ownership, management, and ongoing litigation surrounding the firms.
According to the petition, Magaji allegedly “reverted the status of the Company to incorporation, which is 2006 in the case of JonahCapital and 2007 in the case of Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd,” even though only “three (3) filings were in contention” and those filings are already before the Federal High Court.
Jonah stressed that CAC had been “duly served with the Originating Processes and Motion for Interlocutory Injunction weeks before the administrative actions complained of were taken.”
In strongly worded language, Jonah argued that the Registrar-General’s actions amount to a constitutional breach.
“The law is settled that issues revolving around corporate governance and disputes arising from it fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court pursuant to Section 251(1)(e) of the 1999 Constitution,” he wrote, adding that “judicial powers are vested in the Courts to determine disputes between persons and authorities.”
He further accused Magaji of overstepping his authority by “inviting disputing parties, unilaterally cancelling filings, altering directorship records and expropriating shareholdings,” actions which he said, “constitute the exercise of judicial powers that the Constitution exclusively vests in the Courts.”
Jonah noted that Magaji, being a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), ought to have known better. “Once a party is served with an application for injunction, that party must maintain status quo and refrain from taking any step capable of foisting a fait accompli on the Court,” the petition stated.
The petition warned of severe commercial consequences, particularly concerning investments linked to River Park Estate.
Jonah said the administrative decisions could lead to “potential economic losses of an unprecedented scale,” disrupt banking relationships, and weaken the companies’ legal standing in ongoing lawsuits.
“In the pending civil matters… my companies may now be incapable of defending themselves due to the Registrar-General’s actions,” he wrote, warning that the adverse party in the dispute could be “artificially positioned as both Plaintiff and Defendant.”
He claimed the CAC’s decision effectively handed “administrative victory to one side of a dispute that is already before the Court.”
Jonah also highlighted regulatory inconsistency, noting that in 2023, the CAC directed companies with foreign participation to raise their share capital to ₦100 million, a directive his companies promptly complied with.
“By cancelling filings dating back to almost two (2) decades, the companies have now been placed in automatic default of CAC’s own requirement,” he said, adding that the firms are now exposed to “penalties and operational disruption.”
He further warned that the actions “expose our staff (local and foreign) to the risk of wrongful termination by the individuals whom Magaji has now purportedly installed as the management of the companies.”
Jonah therefore urged Minister Oduwole to intervene decisively.
“I respectfully urge you to use your good and esteemed office to direct the Registrar-General to immediately reverse the administrative action purporting to restore the Company’s status retroactively to the date of incorporation,” he appealed.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had intervened in the River Park Estate crisis, ordering the CAC to temporarily suspend corporate actions relating to the companies, pending a full review of police investigation files.
However, Magaji allegedly defied the directive in a letter dated September 24, 2025, signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, B. E. Jedy-Agba.
The letter, stamped received on September 25, 2025, requested that CAC “place a caveat to preserve the records of Jonah Capital Nigeria Limited (RC:669754) and Houses for Africa Nigeria Limited (RC:729760)” to ensure no further corporate actions were taken while the Attorney-General completed his review.
The directive comes amid intense legal and criminal proceedings tied to allegations of corporate fraud and forgery related to the development and ownership of River Park Estate, Lugbe, Abuja.
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory High Court had also ordered all parties to maintain the status quo on the disputed land, halting development and transactions while proceedings continue.
In addition, the House of Representatives formally received a petition to investigate the alleged unlawful tampering with the corporate records of Jonah Capital Nigeria Ltd and Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd by Magaji.
The petition, signed by Kojo Mensah Ansah, was presented by Hon. Muktar Tolani Shagaya from Ilorin West Federal Constituency of Kwara State.
“Mr Speaker, I rise this morning to lay a petition before this Honourable House… on the unlawful expropriation of shares, extrajudicial removal of directors, and retrospective invalidation of corporate filings,” Shagaya said during plenary presided over by Deputy Speaker Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
The Speaker granted leave for the petition to be laid.
In an official statement on Saturday, the CAC denied ever illegally tampering with the records of any company.
Yet the long-running ownership dispute surrounding Abuja’s multi-billion-naira River Park Estate has now escalated into a full-blown corporate and regulatory crisis, with allegations that Magaji illegally expropriated shares of JonahCapital Nigeria Ltd and Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd and reassigned them to rival claimants in the land ownership battle.
