“SEC’s petition lacks merit”- Oando
…Urges media to refrain from damaging publications
The management of Oando Plc has said that two petitions filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging gross abuse of corporate governance and financial mismanagement lack merit.
A statement issued by the oil and gas company on Monday, August 28, 2017, and filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), also confirmed that the SEC has since commenced an inquiry into the above-mentioned allegations and that “the issues raised have received board, shareholder and where required SEC approval.”
Some media firms (Not Daily Times) had reportedly placed the oil firm amidst a financial scandal, which was said to have led to the postponement of its 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for Monday, September 11, 2017, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
In the statement, signed by its Chief Compliance Officer & Company Secretary as well as its Head of Corporate Communications, Alero Balogun, the oil company thus urged the media to refrain and/or desist from further publications in future, without first verifying the accuracy of such facts from Oando.
The statement said, “Oando’s Corporate Communications team is always available to respond to any enquiries by members of the public and media. The Company is concerned about media houses going public with false and misleading information.
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.”
The statement further clarified that the company would “continue to fully co-operate with SEC in the discharge of its duties as the capital markets regulator.”
According to the statement, one of the petitioners, 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.”
Explaining further, the statement disclosed that the second petitioner, 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 per cent 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.”
But Oando Plc stressed that “Other matters highlighted by the petitioners could have been directed to the company; and would have received the necessary clarification.”
Afolabi Adesola
