OREDOLA ADEOLA |
… call for her sack
… Finance Minister says shareholders are ignorant
The shareholder groups comprising of Proactive Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (PROSAN), Trusted Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (TSAN) and the Oando Shareholders’ Solidarity Group (OSSG), have accused Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, of “unwholesome interference” in the country’s capital market and meddling in the operations of SEC, consequently calling for her sack for alleged desperation to shield Oando Plc from probe.
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| Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, Oando Trading Share and Suspended Director-General of SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo |
Recall that the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE) recently reinstated and lifted the technical suspension placed on Oando’s shares traded on NSE, without making public the outcome of the forensic audit on the energy firm.
The Minister after the reinstatement of Oando, ordered for the removal of the acting Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Abdul Zubair over the fiasco and his replacement with Ms. Mary Uduk at the weekend.
Oando has been under investigation by the SEC after two major shareholders of the company, in separate petitions submitted last year to the capital market regulator, accused Oando’s management of financial mismanagement, violation of corporate governance tenets and running the company aground.
Following its preliminary investigation of the petitions, SEC appointed a team of professionals to carry out a forensic audit of Oando.
Before the forensic audit was carried out, Adeosun suspended the substantive Director-General of SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo over his alleged award of contracts to firms tied to him and his wife and for approving and paying a severance package of N104 million to himself.
The National President of TSAN, Alhaji Mukhtar Ismail Mukhtar, the National Coordinator, PROSAN, Mr. Taiwo Oderinde, and the Coordinator, OSSG, in a statement signed and released Sunday, alleged that the forensic audit has been stalled due to the unwholesome interference and that Gwarzo and Zubair were removed by Adeosun because they resisted her plan to shield the management of Oando from probe.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently sack her in order to prevent further damage to the Nigerian capital market.
The stateholders said, “ We wish to bring the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and all Nigerians to the unwholesome, unpatriotic and strange actions of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun with regards to the probe of Oando Plc.
“You may recall that since early last year, Oando has been enmeshed in a series of crises bordering on abuse of corporate governance and alleged gross financial mismanagement.
“The internal auditors of Oando Plc, Messrs Ernst & Young, in the company’s financial report last year expressed doubts over its ability to continue as a going concern because its liabilities exceeded its assets.
“As concerned shareholders, we sent petitions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions.
“The committee mandated SEC to investigate these allegations, culminating in the setting up of a committee by SEC to carry out a preliminary investigation of the company’s affairs.
“SEC’s preliminarily investigation, as disclosed by the commission in a letter dated October 17, 2017 and signed by its Head of Legal Unit, Braimoh Anastasia, unearthed several malpractices in the company.
“These included insider trading, declaration of dividends from unrealised profits, release of false financial statements to the public, and the disposal of assets without the knowledge of the regulatory body in contravention of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, among several other infractions.
“These weighty findings compelled the suspension of Oando shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to pave way for a more thorough investigation via a forensic audit ordered by SEC,” the shareholder groups recalled.
“It must concern Mr. President, Mr. Vice President and all Nigerians that Mrs. Adeosun has now removed two SEC DGs from their positions all in a desperate attempt to shield Wale Tinubu and the present management of Oando from probe.
“These men have been sacked from their positions because they refused to stop the probe of Oando.
“Zubair was sacked because he initially resisted Adeosun’s attempt to forcefully remove the suspension placed on the shares of Oando to preserve investors’ funds.
“Unfortunately, she had her way and the lifting of the suspension is part of a grand plan to sweep the weighty allegations against Oando under the carpet.
“This is clearly a negation of the anti-corruption stance of the present administration and a systematic destruction of the Nigerian capital market.
“The show of shame exhibited last week where the Nigerian Stock Exchange was made to implement three different directives with regards to the suspension of Oando shares within 24 hours should worry the federal government and well-meaning Nigerians.
“It sent very bad and negative signals to investors all over the world. The attendant negative impact of Adeosun’s meddlesomeness to protect some entrenched interests will haunt the market for a long time to come.
“Consequently, we believe the sack of the minister by President Muhammadu Buhari is the only way to show that the federal government remains committed to the fight against corruption in all sectors of the economy,” the group affirmed.
The Minister in her reaction to the allegations, revealed that the shareholder groups were speaking out of ignorance. According to Adeosun, she had to suspend Zubair at the weekend because she had pointedly asked him not to lift the technical suspension on the energy company’s shares the week before last until a committee comprising representatives from her ministry, SEC, the NSE and the Johannesburg StockExchange (JSE), where Oando has a dual listing, had reviewed the report of the forensic audit submitted by the team of professionals appointed by SEC to investigate the company.
Mrs Adeosun further insisted that despite her directive, SEC still went ahead to issue a memo to the NSE lifting the technical suspension the market regulator had placed on the shares of Oando since October last year.
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