By Teddy Nwanunobi
An oil and gas exploration and production company, Lekoil Limited, has announced the termination of the contract of appointment of its Founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Olalekan Akinyanmi, with immediate effect, it said in a statement on Thursday.
“Lekoil, the oil and gas exploration and production company with a focus on Nigeria and West Africa, announces that it has terminated the employment contract of its CEO, Mr. Olalekan Akinyanmi, with immediate effect, due to a corporate governance breach.
“The Company will commence a search for a new CEO and, in the interim period, Anthony Hawkins will act as interim Executive Chairman of the Company.
“As previously announced, the Company is the lender under a loan agreement with Mr. Akinyanmi (the “Loan”). As at 31 May 2021, the outstanding balance of the Loan was approximately US$1.5 million. The Company will commence proceedings to recover the Loan,” it said.
Valuechain reports that Lekoil, a firm with focus on Nigeria and West Africa, has been bedeviled with internal wrangling and power tussle.
As a result, this turn of events does not come as a surprise to followers of events at the oil and gas firm.
In the culmination of a bitter dispute between Akinyanmi and top shareholder, Metallon, the shareholders of the London-listed Nigerian oil company voted in January 2021 to approve the latter’s bid to add three members to the company’s board, expanding it to seven.
The dispute between Akinyanmi and Metallon caught the attention of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and created more unwanted publicity for the company which was in the news for a fraudulent loan last year.
Akinyanmi had fought the change to the board, saying that, if Metallon succeeded, they could be in a stronger position to make a takeover attempt.
Lekoil had also faced scrutiny from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources for not notifying it over Metallon’s build-up of shares in the company.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, in a letter sent to Lekoil on December 30, who noted that he was not informed, warned that there could be consequences for not notifying him about such a significant change of shareholding.
Metallon was attracted to invest in the oil and gas firm due to its low share price and a $1.9 million loan to Akinyanmi, amongst other reasons.
Lekoil was founded in 2010 by Olalekan (“Lekan”) Akinyanmi, a Nigerian and former analyst at AllianceBernstein, a group of professionals from the finance and oil industry.
The company, a Cayman incorporated company, is headquartered in Lagos, and focused on African oil exploration and production with interests in Nigeria and offshore Namibia.
Metallon, a private investment company that owns four gold mines in Zimbabwe, became a shareholder of Lekoil last March, and now has a 15.1 per cent stake, making it the top investor.
