In the high-stakes world of Nigeria’s electricity sector, the immediate past drama at Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has exposed an industry lesson of how misaligned executive leadership can betray the corporate mission of an organisation. At the centre of this saga is the ousted CEO, Dr. Tinuade Sanda, whose turbulent tenure was tainted by allegations of misconduct, including illegal appointments, shady contracts, and financial misrepresentation to shareholders.
Behind the façade of her corporate poise lies a stinger that comes to the fore when threatened with exposure, Tinuade Sanda and her backers will not stop at anything to supplant other professional women and men who take bold steps to challenge her unethical excesses, even if it means disrupting and stalling workflow and productivity of the company.
The former Chief Legal Officer, who is perceived to have been in opposition to Sanda’s alleged unethical and shady approvals, had a bitter taste of Sanda and her backers as they plotted to bring her down in a media campaign of retaliation and character assassination.
Tinuade Sanda has been on the radar in EKEDC for quite sometime for the wrong reasons, but these had been successfully downplayed.
On November 2nd 2022, a letter from BPE alleging corporate governance misconducts, non-observance of due process and abuse of office by her as CEO was received by the company.
She was indicted of attempts to alter the Company’s corporate structure without Board approval; Promotion of senior management staff without Board approval; Dismissal/withdrawal of the services of senior personnel without Board approval; Appointment of a Chief Power Procurement & Regulatory Officer without the Board’s approval.
Additionally, other grievous concerns were also raised against her, such as the lack of technical capacity, administrative competence as well as emotional maturity to run the affairs of the Company.
Sanda was also found to be awarding contracts to unregistered entities and vendors and the complete disregard for established due process in such decisions.
She was also indicted for misrepresenting the financial position of the Company by non-recognition of the debt (liability) owed to Paras’ debt (despite the fact that a demand letter was written by Paras) in the Company’s books. Failing/ refusing to bring the attention of the Board to the existence of this letter for its directive and further action, in spite of the magnitude and far-reaching implications of this debt on the Company’s financial position.
Other sins Sanda was indicted of included approving and directing the payment of the sum of NGN 220,000,000 (Two Hundred and Twenty Million Naira), a sum way in excess of the approval limit of the MD/CEO, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (“EFCC”) without the required Board approval.
Other grievous concerns raised pointed to her awarding contracts to unregistered entities and vendors and the complete disregard for established due process in such decisions. Where particular attention was called for in investigating the dates of incorporation of the companies and the dates of registration with the Company’s procurement department.
These and many other allegations of impropriety marked her tumultuous tenure as CEO of EkoDisco.
The real intrigue, however, was how her ally, Babor Egeregor, a non-executive director, who has since become a staunch defender of Sanda, led an investigative panel that conveniently cleared and extricated her from the web of allegations in which she had been entangled.
In the Egeregor report that displayed obvious bias, the findings thwarted the board’s disciplinary action, while stunningly heaping praise on Sanda and blaming her inappropriate actions on communication loopholes which she exploited to get her way – a shocking endorsement and flimsy excuse, given the serious claims against her leadership.
Fast-forward to 2024, Sanda was finally shown the way out of EKEDC by the Board and it is the same Egeregor that has championed spirited efforts to have her reinstated, in defiance of the board’s decision to finally remove her.
This has further proven the suspicions of industry watchers that his motivations in vindicating her during his investigation were rooted in protectionism over accountability.
The recent surreptitious attempts to silence those with the courage to question Sanda’s actions in the past perceived as running contrary to principles of integrity within the company, as well as sponsoring media campaigns targeting the recent appointment of the acting CEO, Mrs. Rekhiat Momoh, all seem to align with Sanda’s modus operandi.
These underhand maneuvers appear to betray an underlying motive to keep EKEDC under the grip of a Sanda’s manipulative and shadowily cabal, who are seemingly benefiting from the status quo at the expense of the company’s health and public image.
Amidst all this, EKEDC’s Board of directors, seems to be seeking to pivot from the shadows of past executive leadership toward a future marked by clarity, and efficiency, The board’s decisive action to remove Sanda and appoint new leadership has been lauded by the unions and industry stakeholders as a critical step toward ensuring EKEDC’s operations reflect the principles of accountability.
As the industry continues to watch keenly, EKEDC’s ability to extricate itself from the grip of self-centred former power brokers and redefine its trajectory will ultimately determine it’s future.
____
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2024 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
