Barely 61 days to his retirement,
the Board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), may have forced it's else
while chairman, Kolapo Lawson to step aside, following reports of breach of
corporate governance in the bank under his leadership.
“As the head of such a respected global
institution, I must act when there is even the slightest perception that the
interests of that institution might be at risk. I therefore step aside as
Chairman of Ecobank Transnational,” he declared.
ITRealms confirmed that Lawson is due
for retirement by December 31, 2013 and has handed over to André Siaka as
interim chairman with immediate effect.
Official statement to this effect from
Ecobank quoted Mr. Lawson as confirming that the last few months have seen huge pressure on the organisation, and on
him personally over allegations of mismanagement leveled against him to the
Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“These have
culminated in allegations, which are untrue, made to the Nigerian SEC on issues
of corporate governance. During this time, I led constructive discussions on
the need for independent review of these allegations. The board has now taken
the necessary decisions to appoint independent parties who, I am confident will
investigate these allegations and review our corporate governance with the
utmost professionalism. In order to give total credibility to these reviews, I
have decided it would not be appropriate for me to be the person leading this
process. The Board has assured me of its commitment to seeing these
investigations through and I will continue to monitor this as an interested
party,” he said.
Lawson also lamented
that current media speculations cast over the institution, hence, he accepted
to take the necessary steps to bring this to an end.
In his acceptance remarks on behalf of
the Board, Mr. Siaka described Kolapo
Lawson as a loyal servant of Ecobank for many years, who has played a major
part in shaping the successful organization.
“His family is inseparable from Ecobank and
Kolapo’s contribution to Ecobank is second to none: over twenty years, as a
director of Ecobank Nigeria, of Ecobank Togo and of ETI, he has made a truly
outstanding contribution to this great pan-African company. He has our very
sincere thanks for all of his hard work and commitment, his leadership and his
good company,” Siaka said.ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Pix: Kolapo Lawson, ousted chairman of Ecobank
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