Shareholders insist on interim management for Oando

As the crisis rocking Oando Plc continues, the company’s shareholders have advised the current management under the leadership of Mr Wale Tinubu to step down in the interest of all stakeholders.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had last week dismissed a case filed by Oando PLC against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to stop SEC from conducting a forensic audit on the company and also lift a technical suspension placed on its shares.

The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Aikawa explained that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter and advised Oando to take its case to the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST).

But according to the shareholders, the almost 19 years management structure has ‘overstayed’ and no longer serve the required purpose.

Under the aegis of Trusted Shareholders Association of Nigeria (TSA), the shareholders through Alhaji Mukhtar Mukhtar said “since the assets had been stripped, how would money come in? That is why you see that over the years, they stopped paying dividend, no capital appreciation, no bonuses to shareholders and yet management and board remunerations keep increasing”.

Quoting auditors of the company, Ernst and Young, the National Chairman of TSA, Mukhtar said: “Having scrutinised all its accounts, they came up with the report that the liabilities of that company have surpassed its total assets almost over N260 billion. The credible auditors with integrity gave their final verdict that the company or any of its subsidiaries cannot continue as a company. Once a company’s liabilities are greater than its assets, there is no company.”