Business News
Seplat reacts as court orders seizure of Chairman’s assets, shares
Seplat has reacted to the order by the Federal High Court in Abuja, directing AMCON to seize assets belonging to the company’s Chairman, A.B.C Orjiako.
Oil and Gas company, Seplat, has reacted to the order by the Federal High Court in Abuja, directing the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to seize the assets belonging to the company’s Chairman, A.B.C Orjiako.
The court also granted leave to AMCON to take possession of Allene Limited and Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited which are Orjiako’s affiliate companies.
Nairametrics had previously reported that a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos ordered Orjiako and the other defendants mentioned above to pay three banks – Diamond Bank Plc (now Access Bank), African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM), and Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank) – the sum of $114 million. The amount is the outstanding and accrued interest of a credit facility granted to the defendants in 2011.
Orjiako co-founded Seplat in 2009, through Shebah Exploration & Production Company, with Platform Petroleum Limited. He has remained the Chairman of the company, spearheading new business development and providing leadership on strategy and stakeholder relationships.
[READ MORE: ABC Orjiako sells 3.5 million units of shares in Seplat]
However, in a statement sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and seen by Nairametrics, Seplat said it was not a party to the litigation. This is not the first time Seplat will distance itself from Orjiako. The company also exonerated itself from the case in 2018. Seplat has continued to absolve itself from Orjiako’s case because it is required by Rule 17.10 of the NSE’s RuleBook to make this announcement in the event of this kind of situation.
A B C Orjiako, Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc
It is believed that Orkiako sold his 3.5 million units of ordinary shares earlier this month because of the debt owed.
According to the judgement, Orjiako’s shares in Seplat will be taken over by AMCON.
Assets Orjiako stands to lose
- All the shares belonging to Orjiako and his affiliate companies (Orjiako and the companies won shares in Seplat, Platform Petroleum, Abbeycourt Trading, Helko Nigeria, Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited BVI, Plumage Management Limited, Sinclair Commercials Limited BVI and Allenne Limited BVI.)
- Orjiako’s personal properties at Nos. 10C and 25A Lugard Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.
- An oil vessel, MT Trinity Spirit, used as a floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility in Ukpokiti Oil Field belonging to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited.
- Also affected are all movable and immovable assets of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited in and outside Nigeria.
- These include the oil production facilities and other assets belonging to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited and located in and around Ukpokiti Oil Field.
The assets will be taken over and managed by AMCON’s Receiver/Manager, Francis Chuka, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He will oversee the assets until the full determination of the case. The asset seizure is to liquidate Orjiako and the companies’ outstanding debt to AMCON.
[READ MORE: These billionaires lose N5.7bn as Seplat’s share price declines by 10%]
Note: The managers of the 29 banks where Orjiako and his affiliates have accounts were all directed to prevent all further withdrawals of funds and other debit transactions from the accounts.
The Federal Government has announced the official hand over of the National Arts Theatre Complex at Iganmu Lagos, to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Banks under the aegis of the Bankers’ Committee, in order to commence the renovation of the facility.
This was contained in a tweet post by the Presidential Aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, on his official Twitter handle on Sunday, July 12, 2020.
UPDATE: The event has taken place.
“@NigeriaGov on Sunday officially handed over the National Theatre complex in Lagos to @cenbank and Banks under the aegis of the Bankers’ Committee, to commence the RENOVATION of the facility.” https://t.co/h2aWfuHyF8
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) July 12, 2020
During the event which was attended by the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the bankers were targeting 1 million jobs from this project in the next 5 years.
Details later…
Economy & Politics
FG disburses N349.5m in Conditional Cash transfer to poor households in Kaduna
The disbursement was done under the federal government’s Conditional Cash Transfer.
The Federal Government has successfully disbursed a total of N349.5 million to 34,946 poor and vulnerable households in Kaduna State, under the conditional cash transfer programme.
According to the Head of Cash Transfer Unit in the State, Hajiya Hauwa Abdulrazaq, the disbursement lasted a period of 10 days, from July 1 to July 10.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, Abdulrazaq explained that the benefiting households were drawn from 9 local government areas in the state – 4,470 from Kajuru; 8,032 in Birnin Gwari; 1,963 in Kauru; 1,406 in Sanga, 4,380 in Lere, 2,021 in Kachia; 5,478 in Ikara; 2,784 in Chikun, and 4,412 in Kubau LGAs.
She noted that the disbursement was done under the federal government’s Conditional Cash Transfer, a Households Uplifting Programme targeting poorest of the poor households in the country, and that each of the households received N10,000 each, being payment for the months of May and June at N5,000 per month.
“The households uplifting programme is one of the national social investment programmes which implementation began in September 2016,” she said.
NAN reports that the programme began in 2017 in Kaduna state with about 10,000 beneficiaries, but expanded to 22,380 in April 2020.
In May, a total of 12,566 new beneficiaries were added summing the figures to 34,956 beneficiaries in the state.
The state government had also commenced the process of capturing poor and vulnerable households into the social register in the remaining 14 LGAs, from which beneficiaries of the cash transfer would be extracted in subsequent months.
Coronavirus
Evacuation: 247 Nigerians arrive home from Malaysia, Thailand
The returnees were evacuated with a chartered Air Peace flight APK-7813.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has safely evacuated and returned home, two hundred and forty-seven Nigerians who were stranded in Malaysia and Thailand.
The returnees were evacuated with a chartered Air Peace flight APK-7813 which arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at about 11p.m. on Saturday.
EVACUATION UPDATE.
Chartered @airpeace flight APK-7813 conveying 247 stranded Nigerians from Malaysia and Thailand arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at exactly 2300HRS, 11th of July 2020.
Some passengers disembarked in Abuja..
1/2 pic.twitter.com/rAWrIBa69N— Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (@nidcom_gov) July 12, 2020
According to Mr Gabriel Odu, the Head of Media and Public Relations Unit of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) who spoke to NAN, some of the returnees disembarked in Abuja, while the others proceeded to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
READ ALSO: Nigerians willing to travel abroad will wait a bit longer – Aviation Ministry
In line with the protocols announced by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, all of the returnees presented a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding the evacuation flight, and upon arriving Nigeria, are expected to proceed on a 14-day self-isolation.
Since four weeks ago, from the federal government, through the ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the resumption of evacuation flights, hundreds of stranded Nigerians have been returned home to their families from different countries including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand.
READ ALSO: COVID-19 could impoverish additional 5 million Nigerians – World Bank
The returnees bear the cost of their flight tickets and are expected to self-isolate for four weeks, upon their return to Nigeria. Returnees who receive a clean bill of health after the isolation, are given their passports and allowed to go home.
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