Members of the Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria and the Renaissance Shareholders Association of Nigeria yesterday protested at the continued stay of Wale Tinubu as GMD/CEO of Oando Plc. President of the association Taiwo Oderinde and Olufemi Timothy, based their grievances on the massive drop in Oando’s share price and the huge losses the company made in 2015 and 2016.
“We are dying because our investments in the company have grown wings. The share we bought for N90 has come down to N5 under Wale Tinubu’s watch. A proper probe should be carried out. Tinubu should step aside. The company has gone with its current reported N263bn negative working capital.
Two aggrieved shareholders Alhaji Dahiru Mangal and Gabriel Volpi had earlier petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking that the AGM be suspended, and accused the management of poor governance. Oando’s management has denied the allegations, and SEC declined to suspend the AGM, referring the duo to a law court.
Not entirely Oando’s fault
The drop in Oando’s price was beyond the company’s control as the global financial crisis in 2008 led to a stock market crash. The shareholders should have done their due diligence before investing in the stock.
The protests may be too late
Rather than protest after the Annual General Meeting, the aggrieved shareholders should have registered their grievances while the AGM was held. The protests are akin to medicine after death. The shareholders in addition to submitting a petition to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), can also file a suit before the courts. SEC also denied allegations that it had given the company a clean bill of health, stating that it had investors interest uppermost.