**Renew Call for Tinubu’s Sack, Prosecution
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Shareholders of the embattled Oando Plc have called on relevant authorities to urgently step in to save the company from total collapse.
According to the shareholders, the integrated oil firm is presently in danger and efforts must be done to salvage the situation.
While addressing journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, Chairman of the rusted Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (TSAN), Mr Mukhtar Mukhtar, accused the apex capital market regulator in Nigeria, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), of acting with some compromises.
He said the regulator has unfortunately not done enough to protect the interest of the minority shareholders of the company.
“Regulators have not done enough to protect shareholders in the whole Oando saga,” Mr Mukhtar told newsmen.
He said government must thoroughly look into the matter and punish any member of the board of the energy firm found culpable.
“Right now, there are very serious concerns that the company cannot continue as company or allow any of its subsidiaries to continue to operate; because, according to reports from auditing firm of Ernst & Young, Oando’s liabilities are far more than the assets; which is quite abnormal. And once a company’s liabilities are greater than its assets, there is no company. No bank anywhere in the world will be willing to have it as an undertaking.
“Some of our members called on the National Assembly (NASS) to call on the regulators to act. Unfortunately, the regulators acted with some compromises. What Oando has done cannot be done in the United States, UK, Europe and even in Asian countries, the company will continue to operate as if nothing happened.
“The regulators are there to protect shareholders and not to protect the interests of few people. In other countries, what the regulator will do first of all if there are evidences or signs of infractions in any company, the management of the company in question will be sacked.
“I don’t know why Oando management board is still there. When some of these things happened in some banks when Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was the Central bank Governor, he sacked the management boards of all the banks that were culpable,” Mr Mukhtar said.
But Oando’s Head of Corporate Communications, Alero Balogun, while reacting to this, was quoted as saying, “SEC in all its communications with us has not found this management wanting, so the question of sack does not arise.”
Last month, SEC placed the shares of the embattled company on technical suspension till further notice, following petitions from Alhaji Dahiru Mangal and Ansbury Incorporated over alleged ‘insider dealings’ and ‘manipulation of the company’s shareholding structure’ in breach of the Investments and Securities Act 2007 and the SEC Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies.
This was followed by a further suspension of the shares of Oando by the management of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
However, Oando challenged SEC action at the court in Lagos, and further stopped plans by the regulator to conduct a forensic audit on the company and its report.
Oando Plc is led by Mr Adewale Tinubu. At the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September 2017, shareholders of the company voted to keep him as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company as well as members of the board.
Additional information from Daily Trust and Daily Independent
Adedapo Adesanya