AJOGWU RESIGNS FROM SEPLAT BOARD

Truly great men, they say, cannot stand wrongdoing. Professor of Corporate Governance and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Fabian Ajogwu, OFR, has resigned from the Board of Seplat Energy Plc. An undisclosed source earlier today expressed sadness that such a strong governance pillar left the board of Seplat on 20th April 2023. It is gathered that his resignation may not be unconnected with the external interferences on the affairs of the company targeted at the board.

Ajogwu’s short stay on the board from July 2021 to April 2023 saw him bring the benefit of corporate governance experience from his works and teachings, including the benefit of having drafted Nigeria’s pioneer code of corporate governance, chaired NCC telecoms Code and assisted with the National Code of Corporate Governance as a member.”

It is gathered that Prof Ajogwu resigned from his position as an independent non-executive director of Seplat, citing recent events and deliberate external interference that have prevented him from continuing the discharge of his fiduciary and statutory duties as an independent non-executive director to the highest standards of corporate governance as he has widely published and subscribed to over the years.

We are made aware of the developments at Seplat in the past weeks, and these recent events referred to by the distinguished Professor are the acts described by some commentators as forces intent on ruining the company based on orchestrated falsehoods, which have manifested in:

• Exparte injunction issued by the Federal High Court in Lagos, which was subsequently set aside after weeks.
• A similar case was filed at Federal High Court Abuja, which analysts have described as potentially abusive of court processes.
• Framing the CEO as a ‘racist’ without any due process of court or fair hearing.
• An unwarranted charge was filed against Seplat and its Directors by the Nigeria Immigration Service on 6th April 2023 and withdrawn hours later on the same date by a Notice of Discontinuance of the same dated 6th April 2023
• Efforts by these same forces to mislead agencies of the Federal Government and the courts, to frustrate the lawful business of Seplat, destroy shareholders’ investments and harass and intimidate independent non-executive directors on baseless allegations.

On 20th April 2023, reports officially came out that the Nigerian government, through its Immigration Service, has discontinued the case filed against the company and its directors. It is gathered that a “Notice of Withdrawal/Discontinuance of the action” dated and filed in part on 6th April 2023, was issued by the Director Legal Services of the Nigeria Immigration Service and stated in part that “the Claimant hereby discontinues all the proceedings in this charge against the above-named Defendants.” Seplat Energy said.

Analysts expect the civil suits pending against the company to also end sooner than later without any doubt. The unnecessary battle waged against Seplat and its board could derail its enormous gains over the past with a stellar operational and financial performance in the last financial year. The attacks against Seplat and its Board have been designed to intimidate them for doing the right thing and upholding corporate governance. Since the attacks on independent non-executive directors, the company’s shares have sharply declined. Analysts believe that over one-sixth of the market cap of this dual-listed entity has been wiped off over the past month of these concerted attacks. The share price dropped from GBP1.25 to GBP0.98.

Ayn Rand once said (in Atlas Shrugged): “…the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist, who is willing to … crawl on his belly to the guilty ….”

For Nigeria’s first Professor of Corporate Governance who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, his resignation would appear to signify that there should be no adulteration of good with any sprinkling of ethical compromises. It is hoped that the forces behind these attacks would realise that the company has multiple stakeholders, including shareholders, creditors, employees, communities, etc., that would also suffer the consequences of their actions.