Peter Obi’s company has been dissolved.
Authorities in the United Kingdom, UK, have struck off Next International (UK) Limited, a company largely owned by Nigerian top politician and Labour presidential candidate Peter Obi, for failing to submit its annual accounts.
Investigations revealed that the company was removed from the public record in September 2021, following a first and second gazette notice of “compulsory strike off”
Creditors or Companies House may impose a compulsory strike-off on a company in the United Kingdom for non-submission of annual accounts or failure to notify Companies House of a change in the official registered office address. Once a company is dissolved, its information is removed from the Companies House register and it ceases to exist.
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Next International (UK) Limited was struck off and dissolved in 2021 because it failed to submit its annual accounts for the year 2020.
Before a company is removed from the register, however, the UK requires that the Registrar of Companies House send at least two formal letters to the company warning that failure to file its annual accounts will result in removal from the register.
UK Liquidators, a financial consulting firm, reports that if Companies House does not receive a response to its letters, it will publish a first “strike-off notice” in the Gazette, the official journal of public record.
Why UK dissolved Peter Obi’s company?
The first official notice to dissolve Next International was issued on June 22, 2021, followed by a second notice on August 31, 2021. The final dissolution notice was published on September 7, 2021.
Four consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020) before its final dissolution, the UK Companies House was required to issue a “first gazette notice for compulsory strike-off” before Next International filed its annual account. Then, as soon as the company has submitted its annual financial statements, a gazette will be published to end the compulsory strike-off action.
Origin of Peter Obi’s company
On 16 May 1996, Next International was incorporated as a limited liability company. Mr Obi was listed as a director, whereas his wife, Margaret, held the position of secretary. Shareholders included Next International (Nigeria) Limited (with 999 ordinary shares) and Mr Obi (with one ordinary share).
Records indicate that the company was registered in England and Wales as “agents involved in the sale of various goods.”
The company disclosed obtaining a mortgage from Lloyds TSB Bank Plc for a Croydon property located at 53 Clyde Road.
Peter Obi’s company: Director
Mr Obi resigned as the director of Next International on 16 May 2008, fourteen months after taking office as governor of Anambra State.
In violation of Nigerian law, he continued to serve as a director of the company after assuming office on March 17, 2006.
Section Six (6) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act stipulates that, upon becoming a public officer in Nigeria, a person must withdraw from engaging in or directing a private business, unless the business is agricultural.
The former governor admitted to newsmen in 2021 that he did not declare these companies and the funds and properties they held in his asset declaration filings with the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigerian government agency that handles corruption, conflict of interest, and abuse of office.
Mr Obi stated he was unaware at the time that the law required him to disclose assets or companies he jointly owns with his family or anyone else.
Thanks for reading UK authorities dissolve Peter Obi’s company, Next International.
