AP shares scandal: Otedola sues Dangote for N117bn
By Ayo Olesin
Published: Friday, 3 Apr 2009
Shareholders of African Petroleum Plc have filed a petition against the Vice-President of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Nova Finance and Securities Limited before the Securities and Exchange Commission for losses incurred as a result of the manipulation of the company’s shares.

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Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote

In a complaint filed before the SEC’s Administrative Proceedings Committee, dated March 31, 2009, the shareholders - AP chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, Zenon Petroleum Oil and Gas Limited, and Luzon Oil and Gas Limited – are seeking the payment of N117.18bn being losses incurred as a result of the manipulation of the share price between August 21 2008 and March 26, 2009.

They have also filed a petition with the Director General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange demanding that Dangote step aside and temporarily relinquish his position as 1st Vice President of the NSE to pave way for an unbiased investigation into the allegation and restore confidence in the market.

The petitioners insisted that Dangote’s retention of his seat at the NSE council was likely to undermine investigations in the case and there was a probability that he would be “in a position to influence the outcome” of the complaint/petition before SEC.

According to the petition, filed by Mr. Ubong-Abasi Iyang of Day Spring Law Office, Otedola is seeking a declaration that the respondents transactions carried out within the said period with regards to AP shares was such that created or caused to create a false impression of trading activity on AP shares and did not involve a change in beneficial ownership of such shares.

The petitioners are also seeking a declaration that the respondents’ dealings by way of purchase and selling of AP shares during the period in question “amounted to fictitious transactions, and/or devices which caused a depression and/or caused fluctuations in the market price.”

They are also seeking a declaration that the respondents act was done with the intention to induce other persons to sell their shares and cause a depression and loss in value of AP shares.

They are asking the SEC Tribubal to declare that the respondents actions indeed directly resulted in the loss of the value of each unit of AP shares from N293 as at August 21,2008 to “a miserable value” of N66.50 as at March 26, 2009.

The shareholders are therefore seeking a declaration, pursuant to relevant provisions of the law, that they are entitled to the payment of N117.18bn, which was the loss in value occasioned by the direct act of false trading perpetuated by the respondents.

The petitioners jointly control 490, 328,527 units of shares out of AP’s total 788,787, 838 shares outstanding.

Nova Securities, controlled by Mr. Eugene Anenih, had previously been fined N500,000 for contravening trading rules in respect to the AP transactions
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904033291385

OMO IBO:



like the saying goes 'when 2 elephants fight na the grass go suffer am'

lucabrasi:

this time around,the average nigerians will be the better for it,already people who r lucky would have bought ap shares cheap when dangote manipulated it,hopefully otedola will underut him by importing excess commodities,and cement making them cheap as chips

OMO IBO:

you see this is the problem. the question is will the powers that be let him import the commodities?

i believe the big wigs in Nigeria intentionally streamlined and ironed out their business interests. Hence, little or no competition from any other party including themselves. should either of these guys venture into business interests of the other then wahala go dey. at the back of my mind, i hope it happens but if it does happen then na naija masses go suffer am

texazzpete:

At least we know that Otedola's massive importation of Kerosene helped crash the price down to affordable levels. This singular act alone has helped hundreds of thousands of Nigerian families.

Not sure what Dangote has ever done for the common good.

jamace:

Lets see whether Okonkwo will defeat Amalinze " the Cat" in this contest.

lucabrasi:

of course they will,they both have equal powers and can leverage each other both financially and politically plus where dangote surpasses otedola in monetary terms,otedola by nature surpasses dangote in smartness and business savvy, i v met the man twice before before he became loaded and trust me otedola will do business and hang out with a 10 years old if there is money to be made,he will even allow you to put your legs on his head lol
all im waiting for is for otedola to massively flood the market with any of dangote's monopolies

DRANOEL:

see how one sided you are,you have met otedola,fine,have you met dangote?

otokx:

can someone tell me the difference between a petition and a lawsuit?