In line with its promise to provide regular updates on the ongoing investigation into alleged gross abuse of corporate governance and financial mismanagement, which were based on separate petitions to Nigeria’s capital market apex regulator- the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) by two shareholders, the management of energy giant- Oando Plc, on Monday assured the stock market community there is nothing to worry about.
According to Monday’s statement signed by Ayotola Jagun, the Chief Compliance Officer & Company Secretary, while Ansbury Inc, one of the petitioners is a shareholder in a company domiciled outside Nigeria that in turn holds shares in a Nigerian investment company which is a shareholder in Oando; the other, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, had requested clarification from the SEC on issues which he could easily have obtained from the company.
Furthermore, the statement noted that he indicated in his petition to the SEC that he holds a 17.9% interest in Oando, while the company’s register of members maintained by First Registrars Limited shows that he actually owns about 4% stake in his personal capacity.
“He is yet to disclose beneficial ownership of 13.9% 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,” Jagun stressed.
Based on the above, the company reassured stakeholders just as it noted in its July 14, 2017 press release that the “petitions have no merit as the issues raised have received board, shareholder and where required SEC approval.”
Moreso, the company said “other matters highlighted by the petitioners could have been directed to the Company and would have received the necessary clarification.”
That notwithstanding, Oando Plc said it has cooperated so far with the commission, availing it with all documents requested by providing clarification “on, and rebuttals to, the issues raised and await a speedy conclusion to the enquiry.”
The statement also assured of the willingness of Oando Plc, being a public company listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg stock exchanges, to continue offering full “co-operate with the SEC in the discharge of its duties as the capital markets regulator.”
It also promised to provide full disclosure of the outcome as soon as the SEC inquiry is completed, just as its “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. 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.”