Shareholders of Diamond Bank are now at each other’s throat over the proposed merger between Access Bank and Diamond Bank. While some have favoured the plan, because it offers them the option of having back some of their investment others are accusing the CBN of negligence and compromise. But a presidency source said that those who are grieved have raised a petition to the Presidency, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Nigerian Labour Congress, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Union, National association of shareholders, Office of the President Office of the Vice President, CBN Governor, vowing to resist the take over of their bank. But Presidency sources have dismissed the petition calling it clannish and selfish.
One of the shareholders group that do not want their name in print said that Diamond Bank shareholders that are against the plan are self centred. He said that they are surprised that some of them are contesting the move. According to them Diamond bank shareholders have not received dividend in the last four years, yet they did nothing about the deteriorating financial condition of the bank. He said “these shareholders having not received dividends for four years and witness a rapid decline in the value of their shares, did not take any action. They kept sealed lips following the bank’ management and board sheepishly. The direction the bank headed was clear to them just as the eventual outcome. These shareholders failed in their duty to protect themselves and the customers of the bank. The CBN accommodated the bank because it tagged one of the strategic bank too big to fail. Those resisting the move are taking the authority tolerance for granted.
Top management officials of CBN said the apex bank will not be grand into issues with disgruntled shareholders. If they upset CBN, it will take over the bank and shareholders will get zero instead of the current Access bank offer on the table. Those against the move said said CBN watched for for years too until the bank got to this state. There were CBN bank examiners on the Diamond beat. A Stock Exchange source simply said the situation in Diamond bank is a pervasive failure in corporate governance. I think both shareholders and regulators needs to step up improving corporate governance.
But a group of shareholders led by Chief E. O. Orji and Mazi C Onwunna have raised a petition to the Presidency seeking appointment with the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The petition reads in part “we, the Association of concerned shareholders of Diamond Bank have confirmed from the Leadership of Access Bank that they did not sanction or approved the ongoing discussion between Pascal Dozie, Uzoma Dozie and the Management of Access Bank over a forced acquisition of Diamond Bank, This is a plot by the CBN Governor, Emiefiele to use Access Bank as a conduit to acquire Diamond Bank. His tenure is drawing much closer to an end and he is looking for viable investment opportunity to retire with. We have heard many stories from different quarters including that of the Chairman of the board and the Non executive directors highlighting the accounts of what transpired in the board meetings and have decided to fight this injustice and greed with our last sweat and blood. We will not allow our hard investment to be eroded without fighting.
PGD and Uzoma’s greed is the only reason for allowing Access Bank take over and not the interest of all stakeholders including the shareholders, Board and staff of the Bank. “PGD took a credit facility from GT Bank in his personal capacity (Not the BANK) to buy back the shares of Actis just for his son to be CEO of the bank. he also failed to pay back the loan upon maturity and restructured through Access Bank and now we are here, he want to mortgage the life of thousands of people just because of selfish reasons. We will resist all attempt for this deal
to sail through. We have also gathered from a reliable source that Emefiele has promised Uzoma Dozie and his Father a sum of One billion Naira and Seven hundred and fifty million Naira (N1bn & N750m) respectively for facilitating this deal including allocation of shares in the new Bank. this is after the Son has run down the Bank with his blatant incompetence and lack of strategy. Shares of the Bank was about N7 (seven naira) when the previous GMD left but has falling to about 60 -70 kobo today. We have not collected a dime in the last four years as dividend and now Pascal Dozie and his Son are planning to sell the Bank for their own selfishness. This is so sad and we will not allow it to happen. In a bid to strangle all opposition in the board, they are tactically using the young company secretary Uzo Uja to perpetrate unprofessional conduct by altering the board minutes of meetings in order to suppress information. We have consulted our Legal team and will soon charge the company secretary to court. her conduct is capable of defacing the image of the legal profession that we believed as the last resort to serve and deliver justice.
“We have gathered enough signatures for vote and will make our representation to Securities and exchange commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the coming days. We cannot allow this Kangaroo take over to take place. While we watch from the sideline the activities of Emefiele and his cohorts, We are making formal presentation to the Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Union to call Mr Pascal Dozie (PGD) to order, his action on this matter is selfish and against the ideals of the union to always fight for the interest of the Ibos. This is another Ibo bank being sold unjustly.
“We wish to appreciate and commend the bravery of the Chairman of the Board, Mr Seyi Bickerstheth and other directors who are standing in the interest of the shareholders and the staff of the Bank, we are with you in this struggle and will stand by you any day. We will also like to assure the staff of the Bank that Diamond Bank is a very good brand and will not be allowed to sink. Talks are ongoing with Calyle Group to raise more capital, New Management will resume on January 3rd 2019, and we are confident that the share price will rise up to N5 in the next one year. Please go about your normal business and be assured that we are behind you. We are copying the Senate Committee on Banking and other financial institutions, SEC, NSE, CBN Governing council, ICPC, EFCC and the Presidency to also look into the events unfolding in the financial space where the Government is toiling everyday to attract new investment from foreign climes. we will also be taking a full page adert in the major newspapers to provide the true information to the public on this. We, the concerned shareholders of Diamond Bank have secured an appointment with the Vice President Osinbajo and will be making our presentation to him of the events in the last 4 years since Uzoma became the CEO of the Bank. We will also share the stifling of Calyle group investment to recapitalise the Bank by PGD as this is viewed as a set back to the Vice president’s drive to attract foreign investment to Nigeria. this is capable of negatively impacting the government’s ambitions of making Nigeria an investment friendly nation”.
According to an analyst Donald Ezenwa “when the push to chase out Emeka Onwuka (Pascal’s look alike MD) began, it was for Uzoma to inherit his father’s business. The foreign investor in the bank then, Actis, knew that trouble was near. Actis pushed back vigorously and threw in many options except Uzoma. It was clear that Ohis Ohiwere or U. K. Eke, both Executive Directors were the better candidates to take the bank to the desired height. Actis maintained its resistance and compelled the board to open the vacancy to the public for participation. That was how Alex Otti was identified and approached by KPMG to compete for the job. It was an open interview session where both internal and external candidates were grilled, and at the end, Dr Alex Otti emerged the best candidate in spite of insider information available to those applicants already in the bank. Upon resumption, the Dozie family gave Alex one unofficial job description -to prepare Uzoma to succeed him.
“On becoming the Managing Director Uzoma “sacked almost all the capable hands he could identify within the bank, especially anyone who did not understand politics enough to warm up to him. Recall that his first assignment after he took over was to sack senior people he tagged “Alex Otti loyalists”. He failed to understand that the so called loyalists were actually the best performers in the bank. He promoted mediocre staff with little or no experience to leadership positions and killed courage for healthy debate in the bank. All of his staff disengagement was distasteful and thoughtless, without any regard for the impact on the customers of the bank. For instance, he fired everyone in a strategic department in the bank for organising a send -forth for the head of the department he had earlier sacked.
