From Uche Usim, Abuja
Oando PLC joined the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) top gainers with a 10 per cent increase in share price from N3.18 on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 to N3.41 on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. The share price appreciation can be attributed to the recent announcement of the nullification of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) suspension of Oando’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), in a ruling presided over by Justice O A Musa, at the High Court of the FCT.
The court ruling, deemed a big win for Oando shareholders, was filed by Mr Patrick Ajudua, an Oando shareholder. According to, Mr. Olowola Kehinde, an Oando shareholder and Coordinator, Sage Shareholders and Inc, “This news is evidence that if given the opportunity, our shares could be doing considerably better on the capital market. Overnight, this positive ruling by the court has seen our share price go up by 10 per cent, imagine how much more it could have appreciated by if given a favourable operating environment since 2017. The SEC issue has evidently, harmed our share price and we hope the regulator can see this and will look for a resolution that benefits shareholders”.
This was even as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied ever being served a court judgement by Patrick Ajudua, an Oando shareholder, who reportedly challenged the legality of the Commission to suspend the company from holding Annual General Meetings (AGMs).
SEC in a statement said “it was never at any time served with court processes with respect to the purported matter at the FCT High court”. It said it will consequently take all necessary steps to verify and set aside the purported decision of the said Court.
Ajudua, an Oando shareholder, reportedly in his suit argued that the directive of the SEC suspending Oando’s Annual General Meeting was in breach of his right to freedom of association as guaranteed under Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution and Articles 9, 10 & 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
He secured victory in court on Tuesday, February 23, 2021. In a hearing presided over by Honorable Justice O. A Musa, all cases filed were granted in his favour. Patrick who has painfully endured the SEC’s infringement of his rights as a shareholder and an individual, for the past two years, was the much needed respite that the shareholders required especially at a time when many are grappling for survival following the country’s second recession in three years.
In 2019, the SEC suspended the AGM of Oando indefinitely. AGM’s are an important platform for the protection of the shareholders of a company, furthermore they are a legal requirement for all publicly listed companies. By being listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) a company is by virtue owned by her shareholders, thus ultimate control and the destiny of a company should lie in the hands of said shareholders. Section 81 of the Companies & Allied Matters Act ascribes to every member of an incorporated company, who has fully paid for his or her shares, a right to attend all the shareholders’ meetings of such a company; and to speak and vote at such shareholders’ meetings. According to Patrick Ajudua, the SEC has denied him this right over the last two years.
