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The crisis rocking
African Petroleum continued yesterday with some shareholders and staff
staging a protest at the head office of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) in Abuja.

The protest was in
support of the petition written by the company’s former executive
director, finance and IT, Clement Aviomoh, against the chairman, Femi
Otedola. Otedola’s company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas limited, is the
major investor in AP.

A press release
signed by Lanre Oloyi, the head of corporate affairs of SEC, said “some
persons claiming to be shareholders and staff of the African Petroleum
Plc (AP) staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the commission
head office in Abuja this morning (yesterday).”

Mr. Oloyi also said
in the statement that the commission is in receipt of Mr. Aviomoh’s
allegations against Mr. Otedola. “The commission has launched a formal
investigation into these allegations,” the statement added. The
Nigerian Stock Exchange has also said it will make public its findings.

Mr. Aviomoh, in the
petition, insisted that he has facts and data which show that Otedola
has been milking AP for his private gain for the past two years.

“AP made a loss of
N15 billion in 2009 due to the fact that Otedola’s companies started
selling products to AP at higher prices than normal, at times higher
than the retail pump price at gas station.”

Mr. Aviomoh also
alleged that for daring to challenge his style of administration, Mr.
Otedola forced Tunde Falasinnu, the managing director of AP, to resign
his office, and suspended the company secretary, Elizabeth Idigbe, and
himself.

No knowledge

However, Mr.
Aviomoh denied knowledge of yesterday’s protest. When NEXT contacted
him on the phone, he said. “I have sent my petition and SEC is
investigating. The last I heard from them was they asked for some
clarifications and I have replied concerning an annexure to the
petition.”

When NEXT contacted
Tajudeen Adeyemi, the spokesperson for AP, he insisted members of staff
at AP were not involved in the protest. “How can our staff be involved.
Yes, some shareholders hired by the sacked director (Aviomoh) staged a
protest. We did our investigation and found out that he is in Abuja. He
is based in Lagos, so what was he doing in Abuja?”

Mr. Adeyemi said
the company is not bothered about the development as it is awaiting the
conclusion of SEC investigation of the petition.

Lately, AP has been
in the eye of the storm in the aftermath of the allegation s and
counter allegations between the sacked former Executive Director, Mr.
Aviomoh and the Management of AP. .

A statement
released by AP, a fortnight ago, said that Mr. Aviomoh’s petition is
unfounded and was triggered by an earlier petition written by Mr.
Otedola in June to SEC about how N24.5 billion, which was due to be
paid to AP, is still outstanding. Mr. Otedola himself is on self exile
apparently because according to sources close to him, he fears for his
life.