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The majority owner of Daar Communications Plc, Daar Investment & Holding Company (DIHL), has alleged the manipulation of the media and entertainment company’s shareholding structure at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Daar Communications operates African Independent Television and Ray Power FM.
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DIHL stated in a statement issued to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange Limited, First Registrars (registrar to Daar Communications), the CAC, investigative agencies and the investing public that there has been an illegal redistribution of the shares held in the entity by Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, its late founder, and late Adamu Biu.
Alterations to the original shareholding were executed without the necessary documentation, such as lawful probate or letters of administration, DIHL alleged in the press release, signed by Raymond Paul Dokpesi Jr., one of its directors and the current chair of Daar Communications.
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“The current discrepancies are not ‘ glitches’ but part of a documented pattern of unlawful manipulation of official records,” the document, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, said.
“DIHL states unequivocally that it has not acquired any additional shares in DAAR Communications Plc beyond its lawfully disclosed holding of 4,890,523,000 shares (61.13%), as reflected in the audited 2024 Annual Report. Any registry entry on the CAC portal suggesting a higher figure is a fraudulent fabrication and is expressly disputed,” it added.
Background
The late media mogul died on 29 May 2023, according to M.J Numa & Partners LLP, counsel to the Dokpesi family. That has sparked internal conflicts within the family over how to administer his estate.
Mr Dokpesi Jr. had noted elsewhere in a personal statement on Monday that Peter Dokpesi, his younger brother, initiated a “meritless” legal action against his tenure as the chairman of Daar Communications. Efforts were made, he said, to keep the disputes private within the family, but the latest developments demand that those issues be disclosed publicly.
He claimed that there has been a fraudulent and unauthorised distortion of DIHL’s shareholding on the CAC portal, raising it from 4,890,523,000 to 5,016,418,000.
According to Daar Communications’ 2024 audited annual report, DIHL holds a 61.13 per cent stake, equivalent to 4,890,523,000 shares in the company. There has been no change in the shareholding since then, according to the Nigerian Exchange’s records.
A copy of the statement of share capital and return of allotment of shares of DIHL, issued by the CAC and seen by PREMIUM TIMES, showed the company’s share capital at 500,000 shares. A total of 300,000 shares were allotted to Mr Raymond Dokpesi, 10,000 to Mr Biu, 10,000 to Ade Orekoya, 50,000 to Aishatu Dokpesi and 50,000 to Mr Dokpesi Jr.
However, the press release issued by DIHL claimed that the shares of Mr Orekoya and Miss Dokpesi were reallotted without the consent of the transferors or any valid transfer instruments. Also, it is alleged that records were distorted to show the allotment of shares to some DIHL directors without their knowledge or consent.
Halima Dokpesi, one of the directors, issued a letter dated 26 April 2026 to the registrar general of the CAC, noting that she had been made aware of a change to the shareholding structure of DIHL, with 83,333 units of the shares previously owned by her late father redistributed to her.
“I state unequivocally that I have no knowledge of, nor was I privy to, any such redistribution or the process leading to the said alteration,” she said in the letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
“I did not participate in any meeting at which such a decision was taken, nor did I request, authorise, or consent to the allotment of any shares in my name,” she went further to say.
In the same vein, Raji Anthony Dokpesi, also a director of DIHL, wrote to the Registrar General of the CAC on the same date, denying awareness of the said share redistribution.
“I state categorically that I had no knowledge of, nor did I consent to, any such allotment. I did not participate in any meeting at which this decision was taken,” he asserted.
“The estate of my late father has not been administered; accordingly, his shares remain vested in the estate pending conclusion of probate.”
Mr Dokpesi Jr claimed that CAC’s registry now lists Oluwatosin Dokpesi, who has never been a director or shareholder of DIHL, as a director
DIHL remarked that all its efforts to rectify the manipulated records at the CAC through formal administrative petitions, pre-action notices, and direct meetings since last October have been unsuccessful.
According to documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, M.J Numa & Partners LLP wrote to the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Office of the Probate Registrar of the High Court of Justice, Benin City and the Probate Registry of the High Court of Lagos State to ascertain whether any application for letters of administration had been filed or issued in respect of Mr Dokpesi’s estate.
As of October 2025, all the responses to the inquiries indicated that no such application had been filed and no current application was pending in the registries.
In the same month, Ferdinand Oshioke Orbih, lawyer to Mr Dokpesi Jr, wrote to the CAC on behalf of his client, alleging that DIHCL’s records had been unlawfully altered and requesting that the CAC reinstate the company’s 2008 corporate structure.
Peter Dokpesi, in his response to the petition in December 2025, disclosed that DIHCL underwent a sweeping restructuring in 2012, during which new directors were appointed, shareholding was realigned, and the governing structure was formalised.
He claimed that the petition misrepresented DIHCL’s true corporate history, adding that it treated the 2008 structure as the last valid corporate position. According to him, Mr Dokpesi Jr was appointed as a director under the same 2012 resolution and never objected to the 2012 structure until 2024-2025, when conflicts arose.
When contacted by telephone, Rasheed Mahe, the head of public affairs at CAC, told PREMIUM TIMES that media inquiries cannot be responded to by phone or email. He said inquiries have to be made in writing to the Registrar General of the organisation.
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