Court stops Polo club from suspending former boss

By Innocent Anaba
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, has restrained the Lagos Polo Club and its Secretary, Mr Somuyiwa Sonubi from suspending or expelling the former chairman of the club, Mr. Francis Ogboro,  pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

Trial judge in the matter, Justice Okechukwu Okeke, who granted the order, also granted Ogboro leave to serve the enrolled order together with the other processes on the defendants.

The court ordered the plaintiff to give an undertaking as to the damages,  should it turn out that the order ought not to have been made and adjourned the case August 4, 2010 for the hearing of the motion on notice for the interlocutory injunction.

The order followed an ex-parte application by the plaintiff’s counsel.
The plaintiff is asking the court to decide how his letter dated September 18, 2009 and addressed to the Secretary of the Nigerian Polo Federation,  inviting the parent body to intervene in certain matters concerning the conduct of the of the Lagos Polo Club could warrant his suspension and expulsion.

According to him, “any suspension or expulsion procured other than in accordance with prescription of rules embodied in the club’s constitution is an infraction of the constitution and constitutes an ultra vires act and a fraud on him and other minority members of the club.”

The plaintiff want the court to hold the club and its secretary as wrong doers and that there is no bar under the extant Nigerian law and the Lagos Polo Club constitution 1998 including clause 15(A), preventing him from authoring the latter dated September 18, 2009 and addressed to the Secretary of the Nigerian Polo Federation,  inviting it to intervene in certain matters concerning the conduct of the of the Lagos Polo Club.

According to him, “under clause 15(A) of the club’s 1998 constitution, the main committee of the club cannot affirm the opinion of the disciplinary committee that the action taken by the plaintiff through his letter dated September 18, 2009 and addressed to the Secretary of the Nigerian Polo federation, inviting the parent body to intervene in certain matters concerning the conduct of the of the Lagos Polo Club was unwarranted and injurious to the interest of the club.”

He is further contending that by the letter dated June 30, 2010, the defendants have vowed to go ahead with his suspension or expulsion for a period of 11 months beginning from July 16, 2010 to June 17, 2011.