– Intrigues as Board of Directors Counter Her Desperate Bid to Stage A Comeback
– The Moment Sudden Power, Wealth, Caused Her to Desert Her Marriage
Arrogance is a creature. It does not have senses. It has only a sharp tongue, a rancid repute and a pointing finger. The arrogant leader never really learns much from hearing herself speak but Dr Tinuade Sanda did not know that.
Until her removal as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Marina, Lagos, she carried on like a lioness who deemed the boardroom as her jungle. Thus she roared at will, threatening the peace of both the old and young in her orbit.
However, unlike the feral cat, Sanda neither lived nor worked in a jungle. She wasn’t a lioness either. She was simply a parlour pet of the powers that be, who mistook herself to be a wild cat.
Women, like Sanda, have served all these centuries, in various capacities. But only a handful of them eventually flourish by their genius, humility, and delicious power interred in their femininity. Sanda enjoyed a perfect opportunity to prove her prowess, puncture the anti-female boardroom stereotype, and tower twice her natural size, above her male and female peers but she blew it.
Sanda was recently booted out of her high office as a consequence of high-wired politics and power play that took place over several months.
Although there has been some vigorous pushback by her supporters, Sanda, who has openly challenged her removal and dismissed it as unacceptable may be in for a tough and acrimonious battle to reclaim her spot.
Pundits averred that she might find it an uphill task reclaiming her seat as MD/CEO of the electricity distribution company, given the circumstances that led to her sack.
Sources within the organization revealed that she would have avoided her sad fate if she had displayed the necessary tact, brilliance and humility required to run the EKEDC.
For a woman who allegedly drew over N19million monthly salary aside from other hefty but undisclosed allowances, she certainly shot herself in the foot by her crass display of insolence and disdain for both senior and junior colleagues, argued insiders.
So disgusted was the company’s board with her perceived misconduct that all the members allegedly voted to effect her immediate dismissal as the company’s MD/CEO.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reportedly sacked Sanda with top executives, who were all seconded staff from the West Power & Gas Ltd (owner of EKEDC), insisting that all direct staff of DisCos must be under the employment and unified service conditions under market rules.
Sanda has since been replaced by Rekhiat Momoh as the acting Chief Executive Officer (Acting CEO) with effect from Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
This was disclosed in a letter signed by Dere Otubu, EKEDC Board Chairman, revealing that the latest development complied with the directive from NERC.
In the statement, Otubu stated: “We have received a directive from NERC stating that all staff working for the utility must be employed directly by the utility, bound by applicable service conditions that apply to the employees of the utility, and paid through the utility payroll.”
He added, “The DisCo is obligated to comply with these directives due to the power of NERC as stipulated in the Electricity Act 2023. In compliance with the aforementioned directive, all seconded from WPG Ltd are being released by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc and returned to WPG Ltd.
“Accordingly, you are hereby relieved of your role, office and position at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc effectively immediately, and returned to your employer, WPG Ltd.”
According to reports, there had been issues of alleged infractions within the top management of EKEDC, accusing one of the top staff of WPG of facilitating ghost workers and profiting from illicit activities to the detriment of the utility company.
Although the company had given its reasons for the action, a few weeks after it cleared some senior staff of allegations of fraud and maladministration, further findings revealed several other issues that might have culminated in Sanda’s dismissal along with 11 other senior staff of the EKEDC.
The crisis in EKEDC reportedly erupted when some senior members of staff, wrote to the board and accused some of their colleagues of fraud and making payments to ghost workers.
A former acting Principal Manager of Community Relations/CSR of the company, Peter Ayiwe, sounded the alarm on the crisis when he petitioned the company’s board, alleging an “avalanche of maladministration and miscarriage of justice in EKEDC.”
The development soon escalated, when the workers’ union at the company staged a protest and demanded that the accused members of staff, the trio of Wola Joseph-Condotti, Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of EKEDC, Sheri Adegbenro, Chief Auditor of EKEDC, and Aik Alenkhe, Chief Human Relations Officer of EKEDC, be investigated and sanctioned.
The trio were alleged to have been complicit in siphoning funds and paying ghost workers through a legal brief given to an external law firm to secure and recover the physical assets (lands and property) of EKEDC over three years.
The brief was awarded to the law firm under a retainership when the former MD and CEO of EKEDC and Sanda’s predecessor in office, Adeoye Fadeyibi, were still at the company.
Investigations revealed that in the three years of the retainership, the law firm was paid about N60 million to ensure that EKEDC did not lose its assets, which were widespread over its franchise area in Lagos and in Agbara, Ogun State, but some senior personnel in the company reportedly used this as an avenue to siphon funds and pay non-existent workers of the company.
More findings revealed that there were also concerns raised over the padding of operating costs, which if left unchecked could be transferred to EKEDC’s consumers, who would have to pay higher electricity tariffs.
The EKEDC staff union was reportedly dissatisfied that about 12 senior personnel who were sacked alongside Sanda, and held C-suite and general manager positions in the company were not staff of the EKEDC.
Interestingly, Sanda, the company’s MD/CEO, was among the 12 senior staff of WPG, who had been seconded to EKEDC.
In any case, when the union’s protest persisted, the board set up a panel to investigate the charges against the three senior staff.
Although the board was said to be divided over the matter, it eventually handed a two-week suspension to the CLO and wrote warning letters to the Heads of Audit and HR, thus preventing the union from further acting.
This, however, did not prevent Sanda and other interests from still pushing further on the matter and writing petitions to the Bureau of Public Enterprises and industry regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The matter got to a head when Sanda appointed a new Chief Compliance Officer, in what was alleged to have been an attempt to downgrade the relevance of the CLO.
The new Chief Compliance Officer was also said to have been a subordinate of the CLO before the promotion. With the crisis refusing to abate, NERC eventually stepped in to mediate in the matter, following which it issued a directive last week instructing that all staff working for the utility must be employed directly by the utility, must be bound by applicable service conditions that apply to the employees of the utility, and paid through the utility’s payroll.
NERC also gave EKEDC till Wednesday, March 27, 2024, to implement its directive. It was on this basis that the Disco’s Board of Directors met and relieved Sanda and 11 others seconded from WPG of their positions and asked them to return to the parent company as instructed by NERC.
In the letter addressed to Sanda and signed by Otubu, dated March 25, 2024, titled: “Implementation of NERC Directive on Seconded Staff,” the board directed Sanda to leave her position, as she was also seconded from WPG.
Alongside Sanda, others affected by the directive were the Chief Legal Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Auditor, Chief Compliance Officer and others on secondment to the EKEDC. They were asked to hand over their handover notes to their subordinates.
Sanda has since fought vigorously to reclaim her former position as she has been running helter-skelter, lobbying and rallying the support of some members of the board.
The power tussle at EKEDC has since assumed an interesting dimension as the Legal Director, Babor Egeregor, recently issued a statement claiming that Sanda is still the MD/CEO of the electricity company.
He dismissed the purported termination of employment of Sanda allegedly in compliance with the directives issued by NERC.
He said, “Therefore, let it be known that Dr. Tinuade Sanda remains the MD/CEO of Eko Electricity Distribution Company 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 recognises.” Babor Egeregor
However, in a swift reaction, the board of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has dismissed the communication recalling Tinuade Sanda from her role as MD/CEO, stressing that it does not represent its position.
In a statement on Thursday, the board said it did not authorise Egeregor to issue any statement on its behalf.
“The attention of the Board of Directors has been drawn to the recent statements online and in print media from Mr. Babor Egeregor, supposedly acting on behalf of the board,” the board said.
“This is to state that the Board of Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (“EKEDP”) did not and has not authorized Mr. Babor Egeregor to issue any statement or press release on its behalf. We therefore urge the general public to regard all communications from him as his personal views and does not represent the position of the Board of “EKEDP.”
The board said only communications signed by the chairman are authentic and represent the position of the company on any issue.
Certainly, the last has not been heard of the crisis rocking the power distribution company, the company’s board is resolute in its decision to oust Sanda and her 11 cohorts.
