No ambitious person can keep a low profile. It doesn’t matter how strongly that individual wants to stay in the shadows. Their appetite for greatness will soon see them exposed and back in the limelight. This is one of the lessons one can learn from the corporate lifestyle of notable investor and all-round businessman, Abdulwasiu Sowami. After hugging the cloak of obscurity even after upstaging his peers with the acquisition of Forte Oil earlier this year, he is in the news again.
Sowami’s reemergence is no choice of his own. Much the same as the last time he was found in the limelight, Sowami has once again been thrust into the public eye. In fact, the new situation follows from the last, which is another way of saying that Sowami’s tango with Femi Otedola’s company and the various complexities involved in the acquisition of the said company is not over.
In the latest issue of the court presiding over corporate matters, Sowami lost to Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited. According to the reports of the proceedings from the judgment made in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Sowami’s company, Prudent Energy and Services Limited had been unable to complete its acquisition of Forte Oil from Zenon Petroleum.
As is often the case with company acquisitions and mergers, there are several intermediaries involved in the case. Nevertheless, it all traces back to Sowami. Even though Sowami’s camp alleged that Zenon had breached parts of the agreed-upon contract, the allegation did not cause too much ripple. At the end of the day, Sowami’s side is expected to pay Zenon a total of $19.2 million.
For big people like Sowami, the financial loss may not be much. But he has lost face among the corporate giants in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. But life goes on for both Sowami and his company, acquisitions, and investments.
