By Adewale Sanyaolu
Lekoil Nigeria, in which Lekoil Cayman, a Cayman Islands-registered AIM-listed holding company holds 40 per cent equity, has announced that some of its directors and senior executives have resigned with immediate effect from the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
Those who resigned are; Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, Chair of Lekoil Nigeria and a Non-Executive Director of Lekoil Cayman while Lekan Akinyanmi, CEO of Lekoil Nigeria, equally stepped down as an Executive Director of Lekoil Cayman. Similarly, Gloria Iroegbunam, Company Secretary of Lekoil Nigeria, resigned as Company Secretary of Lekoil Cayman. All three will remain in their current positions at Lekoil Nigeria.
The resignations have been prompted by the recent behaviour and actions of the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
In particular, Akinyanmi vigorously disputes his unilateral termination as CEO of Lekoil Cayman and all of the statements made by Lekoil Cayman in connection with his employment contract and the loan agreement between him and Lekoil Cayman.
Muhammed-Oyebode commented: “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.
“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 its legal advisers and to the AIM authorities requesting them to investigate the behaviour of the current Board of Lekoil Limited.”