…Appoint KPMG to conduct forensic audit

By Peter Egwuatu

Lagos—Shareholders of Ikeja Hotels Plc,  yesterday at a court ordered Extra Ordinary General Meeting, EGM unanimously removed Mr. Goodie Ibru as Chairman and as a director of the company.

The shareholders also appointed KPMG firm of Auditors   to carry out forensic audit of the company.

The meeting which was occasioned by a Federal High Court order was delayed by one hour because shareholders were prevented from entering the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, earlier scheduled for the meeting.

”The delay was allegedly due to the fact that Mr. Goodie Ibru obtained an injunction against the conduct of the meeting from another Federal High court in Abuja.

The meeting was however held one hour after the scheduled time outside the premises of the hotel as allowed by the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA 1990, where shareholders appointed one of the directors, and Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa,  as interim chairman of the company

Olaoluwa, who is currently the Managing Director of Bank of Industry, BOI  presided over the meeting that led to the appointment of  audit firm, KPMG Nigeria Limited, to conduct forensic audit of the management of the affairs of the company from the 1999 to 2014.

At the meeting, the shareholders through voting approved all the four resolutions proposed that:  “Mr. Goodie Ibru be removed from office as director; Mr. Olumide Braithwaite be appointed as director of Ikeja Hotel; Mr. Tunde Saumi be appointed as director and KPMG be appointed for purpose of carrying out forensic audit of the management of the affairs of the company, forensic audit of the share register and verification of the funding and payment for the shares of the company or holders, directly/indirectly of shares that amount to 2 per cent or more of the company’s issued share capital.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Boniface Okezie, President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, PSAN said “ We are at a stage where there is no hope. Goodie Ibru knows that if we hold this meeting, the views of the majority will supercede his own, so he ran to Abuja to get a counter injunction.

”We have a superior legal authority to hold this meeting. For the past six years, no dividend, we only received 10 kobo dividend in 2009 which was paid in 2010 and Goodie occupied the whole 8th floor of Sheraton Hotel without payment. Let him give way so that the company can be run in a profitable manner. We want a change; the company must be salvaged from this mess.
”For the past five or six years, no returns for shareholders, even the people that contributed immensely to the growth of the company, he did not put them on the board. We have three companies as subsidiaries but they refused to pay dividend.

”Our percentage is about 68 per cent of the total holding while 6.7 per cent is his own percentage and corporate governance does not permit him to be executive chairman as well as managing director of a public quoted company. He violated the law, he should have taken a position  of honour by resigning. We have advised him to resign to put his son there and he remained adamant. We don’t know how long we will continue to suffer  from this mismanagement.’

”Since 1984, no capital appreciation and this is because the company is staged managed. IHL Securities takes 10 per cent of the total turnover of the company every year and the money is not being reported to the account of the hotel.”|

Commenting as well, Chief Timothy Adesiyan, President, Nigerian Solidarity Shareholders Association, NSSA, said “We are rescuing this company from the hands of the cabals. We are legally authorized to hold this meeting. The regulators have failed us, let them come and see what is happening. We want to remove the virus that is eating deep into this company. How long shall we wait. You will see change after today. There must be transparency and accountability in this company. Our Auditors have also compromised. With our review of the assets of the company,  its assets worth N700 billion. So why is the company not making profit?”

Mr. Adeleke Adebayo, the General Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria said “What is happening here today is very interesting. The day shareholders wake up to demand for accountability on the part of their trustees i.e. the directors, that is when they begin to get value for their investment and that is what you are seeing . We have been very passive.

”The frustrations on the part of shareholders that they have not gotten commensurate value for their investment for so long has triggered this incident. People are simply demanding for a restructuring of the board and for more accountability. There are a lot of issues in Ikeja Hotel which ought to be addressed. Do you know that some key investors aligned with the retail shareholders to show you the enormity of this case?  For the past six years, no dividend has been paid.”