As Nigerians and the international community await the outcome of the proposed forensic audit on Oando Plc, more shareholders have advised the emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, to desist from interfering in ongoing efforts to unravel the root causes of the crisis.
Under the aegis of Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PROSAN), members of the group are of the opinion that the reported intervension of Sanusi is capable of eroding investors’ confidence in Nigerian capital market.
Speaking onbehalf of the group on Monday in Lagos, National Coordinator of (PROSAN), Taiwo Oderinde, said: “Regulators should do their job without any fear or favour. This is a quoted company for goodness sake. A company guided by rules and regulations”.
He added: “What are we trying to tell the world? There is an audited report already. The report is in the public space. The management of Oando went to court and lost. The next logical thing is for auditors to continue with their job. Anythning outside this process will rubbish the Nigerian capital market.
“As shareholders, we will not allow that to happen. We wrote to the National Assembly. The House of Representative ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate. Investors are watching. We will resist anything outside due process.
“Why are they doing everything possible to stop the process? We should stop portraying ourselves this way. The auditors must conclude their job. That is the only way forward”.
PROSAN’s position is coming less than one week after the Oando Shareholders Solidarity Group (OSSG) explained that the intervention of Sanusi in the face-off between the company and one of its aggrieved shareholders cannot stop a forensic audit planned by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The audit is scheduled to start before the end of this month
Meanwhile, Truth and Transparency Initiative, insisted at the weekend that the reported peace deal “has nothing to do with agitations and protests of legitimate shareholders of OANDO PLC”.
The group in a statement issued by its Co-ordinator, Barrister Nnodu Okeke, said: “The attention of has been drawn to a news report that the Emir of Kano, His Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi11, brokered a peace deal between one of the shareholders of OANDO PLC, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, and the management of the company, as a result of which Alhaji Mangal withdrew his petition to Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) against the company.
Let us state emphatically, and for the avoidance of doubt, that the said peace deal has nothing to do with agitations and protests of legitimate shareholders of OANDO PLC and the general public at large over the mountainous infractions and illegalities against which the management of OANDO PLC stands charged.
“ For one, OANDO PLC is a public liability company and what happens to the company and how regulatory authorities respond thereto goes a long way to the manner investors, especially foreign ones, will view their participation in doing business in Nigeria.
“We have been in this business of OANDO PLC as well as several other shareholders on our call that justice be done in respect of the malfeasance committed by the management of OANDO PLC, and that the right thing be done so that investor’s confidence be restored and also that other shareholders of the company get justice. Therefore the said peace deal has not affected the issue on ground.
“SEC, on its own, after investigations, pointed out some infractions in the company and came to the conclusion that a forensic Audit was necessary in the company.
“Only heaven knows why OANDO PLC management has been fighting against a forensic audit being conducted in the company.
