From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja
One of the non-executive directors of Seplat Energy will exit the company’s directors’ board in October, the energy firm said Tuesday.
Fabian Ajogwu, a senior lawyer, handed in his resignation “following recent events and deliberate external interferences which have prevented him from effectively discharging his fiduciary and statutory duties as an Independent Non-Executive Director,” Seplat Energy said in a note to the Nigerian Exchange.
The disclosure comes five days after the oil driller announced discontinuance by the Nigerian Government of an immigration suit initiated against its chief executive.
The development is the latest twist in the legal warfare, including a prejudice case by a group of stakeholders against the directors and CEO Roger Brown and another lawsuit that challenged Mr Brown’s immigration status
According to the firm, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria disclosed in his communication to the company his decision was a gesture towards preserving sound corporate governance ethics.
While the conflict between the government and Nigeria’s biggest energy company by market value is being settled out of court, the other involving its stakeholders has not been decided.
A Lagos Federal High Court in March temporarily prohibited the chief executive from holding office to enable it to reach a decision on a motion by the petitioners.
Seplat Energy announced earlier this month that Mr Brown had been reinstated after the suspension lapsed. Hearing on the suit is to continue on 16 May.
In the Tuesday statement, the company declared that Basil Omiyi, the chair of the board and Charles Okeahalam, “will both retire from the Board before the May 2024 Annual General Meeting.”
The two officials, alongside Mr Ajogwu, were among the directors the court issued an interim order against in March.
The court order forbade them from running the affairs of the company “in an illegal, unfairly, prejudicial and oppressive manner.”
