By Gbenga Agbana Tuesday, 27 Jul 2010        

 

The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange said on Monday that there was no succession crisis at the Exchange as published by a newspaper (not The Punch), on Monday.

 

According to a statement signed by the management of the NSE, the succession process of the NSE is in progress, in line with the directives of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Accenture, a consulting firm, handling the recruitment exercise.

 

The statement said, ”Our attention has been drawn to a publication on Monday, July 26, 2010, titled: ‘Fresh Succession Crisis Hits Nigerian Stock Exchange.’ We wish to state unequivocally that the story is false in all its entirety. Our Group Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, has not called council meeting since the Federal High Court‘s ruling of March 12, 2010 that nullified the election of the Nigerian Stock Exchange‘s President and some other council members.

 

Besides, it is the chairman of the board that summons council meetings and not the Chief Executive Officer. The Exchange has been conducting its operations via committees since the said court order as the capital market cannot be shut down.”The statement added, ”The NSE is a law-abiding corporate citizen, hence Okereke-Onyiuke, has never called any national council meeting whatsoever and has no plans to call one at this point in time.

 

“We wish to inform all our stakeholders that this is a misleading story planted by some faceless people to embarrass Okereke-Onyiuke. It is more suspicious that such a sponsored publication came about when an ongoing court case of contempt served the Exchange‘s President, the Group Chief Executive Officer and the Company Secretary, comes up today, July 27, 2010. The report is subjudice and a deliberate attempt to mislead the court with false and malicious claims.

 

According to the statement, “The Exchange has always had a succession plan since April 2008 and as a peace-loving organisation, we decided to comply with the position of the Securities and Exchange Commission to advertise our proposed senior executive positions.“This is going as scheduled with Accenture, only for these agents of destruction to raise false alarm in order to scuttle the recruitment process.”

 

Source:Punch