The House of Representatives has intervened in the crisis threatening the stability of Oando Plc by giving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a two weeks deadline to complete its investigations over petitions filed against the Wale Tinubu led management.
Recall that House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market had last week summoned the Director-General of SEC Munir Gwarzo over petitions from aggrieved shareholders alleging mismanagement.
National Daily gathered that the Honourable members may have been pushed to intervene following the media war between all parties involved, and an avalanche of information it had received from analysts, investors and the general public on the matter.
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The committee also stated that shareholders whose cases are not covered in the petitions currently being investigated by SEC, to forward theirs to the committee. Shareholders had recently protested after the recently held Annual General Meeting (AGM) where a vote of confidence was passed on Oando’s management.
News had broken in July, that SEC was investigating two petitions levelled against the company, but Oando Plc refused to name the parties involved. After much pressure, the company named Alhaji Dahiru Mangal and Ansbury Investments (a company controlled by Gabriel Volpi) as the petitioners.
The petitioners had petitioned SEC over Oando Plc’s shareholding structure after it had raised $1.35 billion to acquire Conoco Philips assets, demanding that the company’s AGM which held two weeks ago be postponed until the issue was resolved.
The two parties have alleged that the company has been mismanaged, and had requested SEC to suspend the AGM. Volpi and Mangal, also accused the company of not granting them adequate representation on the board despite their large shareholding.
Volpi also accused Oando’s Group Managing Director (GMD) and Deputy Managing DIrector (DMD) of failing to pay back a loan he had lent them to acquire shares. The company, in its reply denied the allegations and accused the petitioners of having ulterior motives to take over the company
SEC, in its response said the investigations did not warrant the AGM’s suspension, and it eventually held. The regulator also maintained that it had shareholders interest uppermost in its agenda, and that investigations were on going. Oando shares closed at N5.99 in yesterday’s trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) up 27.45% year to date.