Signs of trouble were palpable early in the AGM as scores of scruffily dressed men claiming to be proxies took over most of the seats in the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton, venue of the meeting. The hotel staff had to expand the hall to accommodate more people.
National Chairman of Supreme Shareholders Association, Mr. Owolabi Peter, voiced the shareholders’ displeasure and asked the board chairman to send them out of the meeting.
Soon after, emotions ran high, developing into a shouting match between those who felt that the proxies were specially “employed” to ensure the entrenchment of certain interests among board members and those who obviously did not see anything wrong with the arrangement.
The meeting was therefore interrupted for some minutes until Dr. Okereke-Onyuike ordered that those creating the scene be taken out by a combined team of armed policemen and officers of the State Security Services.
In the ensuing confusion, the securitymen swooped on the actors which created panic among shareholders, with some keeping quiet. But one of them was hounded out of the hall before the business of the day could continue.
Unimpressed by the performance of the security men who struggled with the shareholder for a while before he was overpowered, Dr. Okereke-Onyuike threatened to personally carry out anybody that further tried to disrupt proceedings.
Several shareholders who spoke on the floor criticized the handling of the situation which was considered too autocratic and that the board should have given protection to shareholders rather than asking to be arrested by security officers over issues that could have been resolved, amicably, by the meeting.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
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