Review Oando’s sanction, CSO tells SEC

A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria (ILEWN), has urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to review the sanction it placed on Oando Plc to give room for equity and justice.

The group made the call in Abuja on Wednesday night by its Executive Director, Mr Splendour Agbonkpolor.

Agbonkpolor regretted that SEC went ahead to stop Oando’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) even after a c0ourt had ordered that status quo be maintained.

According to him, the disobedience to the order of court has questioned the integrity of SEC in the matter.

Agbonkpolor therefore, criticised SEC over its decision to keep Oando Plc suspended in spite of its failure to make public its findings of the investigation it carried out two years ago.

He argued that the failure of the Commission to make public its findings of the investigation before sanctioning the oil company created the impression that it was acting a script.

He noted that the alleged infractions and penalties were unsubstantiated, ultra vires, invalid and calculated to prejudice the business of the company.

“The SEC had recently directed Oando Plc to suspend its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and prior to the directive, it also ordered Oando’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wale Tinubu and other affected board members to resign.

“The stakeholders’ of Oando Plc demanded for the content of the investigation report which took place two years to compile but the Commission refused to oblige them access to the investigation report.

“This invariably implies that there are cookies in the investigation report thus it could be inferred that the Commission may be acting differently from the content of the report that supposedly indicted the chief executive and the second in command of the company.

“The clarification needed by the public and Oando stakeholders’ has yet to be made available by SEC.

“We also made effort as a Civil Society Organisation to get the report in line with Freedom of Information Act, but it was not made available and this brings skepticism to the entire processes and procedures that were followed during the course of investigation.

“SEC is highly revered by all that knows the capacity that it carries and it must not be seen as being unprofessional in a manner that paints the Commission in a negative light,” he said in a statement.