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A group of aggrieved shareholders of Oando Nigeria Plc last Thursday staged a peaceful protest to the National Assembly requesting that the management of the company led by Wale Tinubu should step aside.
The protesters, which consist of members of Trusted Shareholders Association, Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, had among others expressed fears that the forensic audit on the company will not result to anything meaningful if the management of the company does not pave way for thorough investigation.
“The global practice is that when forensic audit is being carried out on a company, the management of the company will step-aside to give room for thorough investigation without any interference”, according to Mukhtar Mukhtar, chairman, Trusted Shareholders Association.
The forensic audit of the company was initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The shareholders also charged the House Committee to urgently invite the acting director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ascertain the authenticity of the forensic audit set-up to investigate the company.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions, the associations demanded that, “The management of Oando Nigeria Plc led by Wale Tinubu should step aside until the forensic audit is released to the public so as to pave way for an unhindered forensic audit.”
“We fear that the suspension of the former director-general of SEC, Munir Gwarzo is a clear attempt to frustrate the forensic audit,’’ according to Oderinde Taiwo, national coordinator, Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria.
Mukhtar said the shareholder group was convinced that SEC, under the acting DG, Abdul Zubair is only buying time by instituting a new forensic audit.
He expressed anger that shareholders of the company are dying without getting returns from their investments. “Many of our members have become victims of hypertension watching their investments tumble without any hope to salvage same in sight,” he said.
