The controversy trailing removal of Dr Tinuade Sanda as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (EKEDC), and appointment of Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, as the Acting CEO of the company is taking an unsavoury dimension, Success Nwogu writes
The removal of Dr. Tinuade Sanda as the MD/CEO of EKEDC and the appointment of Mrs. Rekhiat Momoh as the Acting CEO of the company have torn members of the electricity distribution company board apart. The developing story may be a clear case of boardroom oscillation, intrigues, power play, squabbles and collision.
Impressed Minister Adelabu
The Chairman of the Board of Eko Disco Plc, Dere Otubu, Sanda, other top board members and management staff of the disco had played host to the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who had gone on a working visit at the corporate headquarters of the company last Friday, accompanied by head of power sector agencies; Chief Technical Officer, Ministry of Power, Adedayo Olowoniyi; MD, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Engr. Sule Abdulaziz; Managing Director/ CEO of Niger Delta Power Holding Company, (NDPHC) Chiedu Ugbo among others.
The power minister had disclosed Federal Government’s plan to use EKEDC, then under Sanda and Ikeja Electric Distribution Company Plc (IKEDC) under Folake Soetan, as model distribution companies (DisCos), owing to among other achievements, their high collection efficiency. He said that these two DisCos would serve as examples for others to emulate.
Otubu said the company invested huge amount of money to improve infrastructure, develop capacity and enhanced efficiency in metering and that EKEDC was the true testimony of privatisation that works. He also assured that the disco could achieve 24-hour electricity power supply if given adequate energy and support.
Sterling revelations
The excited Sanda disclosed that EKEDC had in the last six months invested over N4 billion on transformers, cables and rehabilitation of over 352 feeders to ensure stable supply during the rainy season. She said that the debt owed the company in the last 10 years stood at over N131 billion, inclusive of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Decrying that the MDAs’ outstanding debts to the discos stood at over N36 billion, she also threatened that the DisCo would not hesitate to embark on mass disconnection of debtors. She may not have dreamt or foresaw the impending tsunami.
Redeployment shocker
It, therefore, must have been a great shock to her when the same Otubu, who had praised the performance of the disco under her, in a letter titled: ‘Implementation of NERC Directive on Seconded Staff,’ dated March 25 and addressed to her, directed her removal as the MD/ CEO of the disco and that she return to WPG Ltd, the parent company of EKEDC, where Sanda was seconded from.
The letter read: “We have received a NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) directive dated March 21, 2024, which instructed Eko Electricity Distribution Plc inter alia: “EKDC is hereby directed to ensure that all staff working for the utility are employed by the utility directly, bound by applicable service conditions that are applicable to the employees of the utility and paid through the utilities payroll.
“The Disco is obliged to obey these directives due to the power of NERC as stipulated in the Electricity Act 2023. In compliance with the above directive, all seconded staff from WPG Ltd are being released by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc and returned to WPG Ltd. “You are hereby relieved of your role, office and position at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc effective immediately and returned to WPG Ltd, your employer.
“You are further directed to handover to the highest ranking staff of Eko Electricity Distribution Plc under you. “We hereby record our appreciation of your valuable services and contributions to the growth and successes achieved by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc over the years as a seconded staff from WPG.”
New dawn
Subsequently, in a statement sent to journalists by the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Strategy, EKEDC, Mr. Babatunde Lasaki, the disco’s board announced Mrs Rekhiat Momoh, as the Acting CEO of Eko Disco. It said: “We wish to inform the general public that Mrs Rekhiat Momoh has today, March 26, 2024 assumed the role of Acting CEO of Eko Disco.
“This follows the redeployment of our erstwhile MD/CEO, Dr. Tinuade Sanda, back to WPG Ltd, the core investor, who seconded her to Eko Disco.” The statement said that Momoh had been in the power sector for more than 31 meritorious years and that she had risen through the ranks in the power sector from the days of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and now Eko Disco, receiving several excellence awards, commendations and medals along the way.
“We have great confidence in her ability to perform this role effectively and take the company to greater heights,” it added.
As stakeholders and the public await the end of the game, it remains to be seen how the whole drama will play out
Curious twist
But in a curious development, the Director/Chairman, Legal and Regulatory Committee of EKEDP, Babor Egeregor, released a statement and insisted that Sanda remained the Disco’s CEO. He argued that her removal and replacement with Momoh by Otubu was not in agreement with the directive of the NERC. According to him, NERC’s directive only covered those who were suspected in allegations of fraud and negligence.
Egeregor said: “It has come to my notice that by a letter dated March 26, 2024, the Chairman of EKEDC, Mr. Dere Otubu, purportedly terminated the contract of employment of Dr. Tinuade Sanda, the MD/CEO of EKEDC, allegedly in compliance with Orders/Directives issued by NERC.
“The said order of the NERC, herein displayed, are unambiguous, incapable of, and unyielding to plural interpretations. There was nowhere in the Order where NERC requested the removal of any staff either seconded to or hired by EKEDC except those connected to the alleged fraud and negligence.”
He stated that NERC’s directives were issued to compel the Board of EKEDC, following picketing by the union and unrelenting staff protests, to act appropriately in the face of a determined position of a majority of the board members to cover up the alleged use of ghost workers together with the alleged fraud.
According to him, Otubu’s letter, therefore, was done in bad faith and in vengeful revenge against Sanda for escalating the alleged fraud and issuing queries against one of Otubu’s protégés, whom he allegedly has desperately swore to protect by all means.
He further said that as a matter of fact, the Ag DG of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), representing the Government on the Board of EKEDC, vehemently rejected the attempt to cover up the alleged crime and insisted on compliance with the punishment prescribed in the Conditions of Service. He alleged that rather than comply with the Orders of NERC, a recourse to alleged subterfuge was hatched with the purported termination and the publication of different misleading headlines such as “FG Sacks MD of EKEDC,” “Tinuade Sanda relieved of her position as MD, Eko Distribution Company. Egeregor said: “There are no doubts about a deliberate agenda and unconcealed mischief to misread the Orders of the NERC to malign Dr. Sanda’s reputation for daring to escalate and issue queries for alleged fraud through the use of ghost workers for three years, and continuous payment of salaries to exited staffs despite personally receiving their resignation letters.”
He said that similar queries were issued to some officials of the disco for their alleged failure and gross negligence to audit and detect fraudulent payments on payroll for over three years. “We are also aware of a purported press release appointing Mrs Rekiat Momoh as the Ag MD/CEO. “The board of EKEDC, on which I sit, has neither met nor decided on the purported appointment of Mrs. Rekiah Momoh as Ag.MD/ CEO, except Mr. Otubu and his close circle of colleagues, have transformed themselves into “the board”. I and all well-meaning members of the EKEDC board, I believe, should vehemently distance themselves from this contrivance.”
He stated that the Board was not a one-man show, and that matters were to be collectively deliberated on and approved by Board members. “Mrs Momoh is the Chief Commercial Officer of EKEDC and remains so,” he said. He alleged that Otubu and his co-travelers had chosen to cherry-pick the exhaustive interaction with NERC where one of the Commissioners wondered why no one was yet to be tried or in prison for these grievous allegations and how to recover lost funds part-owned by the Federal Government. According to him, they are more focused on settling scores with ‘our performance-driven MD/CEO, Mrs Sanda. “At EKEDC, we are known for due process and legality, and anything that would take away from our avowed commitment to due process and corporate governance would be resisted.
“Therefore, let it be known that Sanda remains the MD/CEO of EKEDC and has since her assumption of office as the MD/CEO, turned EKEDC around for good, with very great milestones and achievements which every sector player recognizes. She made EKEDC the number-one distribution company in Nigeria. The Investors, Board, and Management of EKEDC believe firmly in her leadership and look forward to many more record-setting and breaking moments. “This is for the information of the general public and all NESI stakeholders,” Egeregor said.
EKEDC clarification
Reacting to the development in an interview with New Telegraph, yesterday, Lasaki said the statement from Otubu remained the position of the board. He explained that the position of Egerego was his personal opinion and noted that in board meetings, there could be divergent views. Lasaki said: “What happened was that the MD was not sacked contrary to what was carried initially. Dr. Sanda and some others are staff of the parent company, WPG.
“They came to Eko Disco as secondees. So what happened was that they recalled them to the parent company and in their place because we do not want to have a vacuum, and pending when all matters are resolved with the regulatory body and others, we needed to appoint somebody to hold the forte. That was the reason why Mrs Momoh was appointed as acting CEO. So that is the official position of the board.
“Concerning the statement from Mr. Egerego , you understand that in every board situation, we always have different dynamics even within the board. It is across every sector. You have between five and seven board members, not all of them will have the same position. That is why they vote on decisions. The statement I sent to you is the official position of the board members as shared and signed by the board chairman. “The other one is a position of one of the board members. It is his personal position. It is based on the dynamics of board composition.”
As stakeholders and the public await the end of the game, it remains to be seen how the whole drama will play out.