Diamond Bank’s shareholders unveil secret plot for Access to acquire bank
The Association of Concerned Shareholders of Diamond Bank (ACSDB), has opened up on what it saw as a surreptitious plot by the duo of the Managing Director of the Bank, Mr. Dozie Uzoma and father, Pascal Dozie, with the Management of Access Bank to effect a forced acquisition of Diamond Bank.
This is coming barely few weeks after the troubled bank had denied any form of deal with Access Bank.
Though efforts to get reactions from Access Bank failed weekend, the association further averred that their intelligence came from the Leadership of Access Bank who made it clear that they did not sanction or approved the ongoing secret discussion between Dozie family and Access Bank.
ACSDB in their petition that “This is a plot by the CBN Governor, Godwin 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 attempts 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 4 years as dividend and now Pascal Dozie and his brat Son are planning to sell the Bank for their own selfishness. This is so sad and we will not allow it to happen.
ACSDB also revealed that “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 Igbo 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 advert 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.
The petition was signed by the duo of Chief E. O. Orji and Mazi C Onwunna and copied to the SEC, NSE, NLC, Ohaneze Ndigbo, National association of shareholders, Office of the President, Office of the Vice President, CBN governing Council, Senate, EFCC and ICPC.
