By Dipo Olowookere
Those behind petitions leading to an investigation into transactions in Oando Plc have been publicly made known.
The oil company, in a statement issued today, gave identity of the petitioners as Ansbury Inc and Alhaji Dahiru Mangal.
Both aggrieved parties accused Oando of gross abuse of corporate governance and financial mismanagement, but the oil firm said the allegations lacked “merit.”
The company noted that it will continue to fully co-operate with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the discharge of its duties as the capital markets regulator.
However, it pointed out that, “From the SEC’s initial correspondence to the company to date, we have availed them with all documents requested, provided clarification on, and rebuttals to, the issues raised and await a speedy conclusion to the enquiry.”
Giving insight on who the petitioners are, Oando revealed that Ansbury Inc is not a shareholder of the company, but a shareholder in a company domiciled in a jurisdiction outside Nigeria which in turn holds shares in a Nigerian investment company that is a shareholder in Oando.
It added that Alhaji Dahiru Mangal is an individual who requested clarification from the SEC on issues which he could easily have obtained from the company and indicated in his petition to the SEC that he holds a 17.9 percent interest in Oando.
“However, based on the company’s register of members, First Registrars Limited, he owns approximately 4 percent of Oando Plc’s shares in his personal capacity.
“He is yet to disclose beneficial ownership of 13.9 percent in accordance with Section 95 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap. C20 LFN 2004 (CAMA); failure to do so is a violation of CAMA and this has been flagged by the Company in writing to Alhaji Mangal and the SEC since Wednesday, 24th May, 2017.”
Oando Plc stressed that “Other matters highlighted by the petitioners could have been directed to the company and would have received the necessary clarification.”
It promised that, “As a public company listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges, we will provide full disclosure of the outcome as soon as the SEC enquiry is completed.”
Oando urged members of the public and the media to always reach its Corporate Communications team for any enquiries, emphasising that it was not happy with media houses going public with false and misleading information.
It noted that, “As a public and listed company, any false or misleading information has a materially adverse effect on the company including but not limited to reputational damage, creating undue and to a certain extent illegal volatility in the share price and causing unfair losses to our shareholders.”
“We therefore urge media houses to refrain and/or desist from further publications in future, without first verifying the accuracy of such facts from Oando,” the firm further appealed.
