Peter Uzoho
A number of directors and senior executives of Lekoil Cayman, a company with 40 per cent equity holding in Lekoil Nigeria Limited, have resigned their appointments from the board of Lekoil Cayman, citing alleged breaches by the company’s board.
A statement issued at the weekend by Lekoil Nigeria, announced the resignation of the Chair of Lekoil Nigeria, Mrs. Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode as a non-executive Director of Lekoil Cayman.
Also, the Chief Executive Officer of of Lekoil Nigeria, Mr. Lekan Akinyanmi, resigned as an executive Director of Lekoil Cayman, while the Company Secretary of Lekoil Nigeria, Gloria Iroegbunam, resigned from her position as the Company Secretary of Lekoil Cayman.
According to the statement, the resignation was with immediate effect and all three officials will remain in their current positions at Lekoil Nigeria.
The statement alleged that the resignations had been prompted by the recent behaviour and actions of the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
It said, in particular, Mr. Akinyanmi vigorously disputed his unilateral termination as the CEO of Lekoil Cayman and all the statements made by Lekoil Cayman in connection with his employment contract and the loan agreement between him and Lekoil Cayman.
The statement quoted Muhammed-Oyebode, as saying that, “The Board and management of Lekoil Nigeria remains committed to its vision of developing the company’s assets and we wish to assure our numerous stakeholders, especially our shareholders, partners and colleagues, that the strategic national assets under our purview will be protected by all legitimate means available to us.
“This in turn will ensure the restoration of value for all shareholders, both in Lekoil Nigeria and Lekoil Cayman.”
According to her: “The Board of Directors of Lekoil Cayman continue to show a blatant disregard for the Shareholder Agreement, a legally binding agreement which governs the relationship between Lekoil Cayman and Lekoil Nigeria and which was implemented at the time of Lekoil Cayman’s listing to meet the requirements in Nigerian law in respect of control of indigenous strategic assets.
“The continuous breaches of due process and corporate governance by the Board of Lekoil Cayman has left us with no option but to resign collectively from the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
“Meanwhile, Lekoil Nigeria has separately written to Lekoil Limited’s advisers and to the AIM authorities requesting them to investigate the behaviour of the current Board of Lekoil Limited.”
