Seplat board member, Kazeem Raimi, sells N25.3m shares amid faceoff with Nigerian govt over ExxonMobil deal

A Non-Executive Director with Seplat Energy Limited, Kazeem Raimi, has sold his entire shares in the company following President Muhammadu Buhari’s withdrawal of his approval for the ExxonMobil deal.

Seplat announced the director’s decision to sell his 16,139 shares worth N25.33 million in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Friday.

This will most likely lead to Raimi’s exit from the board.

The notice read: “The Company was notified of the sale of 16,139 ordinary shares registered in the name of Mr. Kazeem Abiodun Raimi, a Non- Executive Director of the Company. Following this sale, Mr. Kazeem Abiodun Raimi holds nil ordinary shares in the company.”

Raimi’s sell-off comes at a period some United Kingdom investors also took out their investment in Seplat as reported by Ripples Nigeria earlier on Friday.

This caused the firm’s share to fall from £123.75 to £116.

READ ALSO: Seplat in the dark, as Buhari reverses self on approval of ExxonMobil deal

The capital market activities of a company’s executive is usually used as a roadmap by minority investors, and with Raimi selling his shares at a period Seplat was struggling to complete the ExxonMobil deal, it could trigger a negative response in the capital market.

However, stock movement projections are not solely based on this.

President Buhari had on Thursday withdrawn his approval for the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from ExxonMobil after the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) opposed the deal.

The acquisition of MPNU was expected to improve Seplat’s crude oil production and revenue generation in the coming years.

The Federal Government blocked the deal just eight months after Seplat announced the agreement with ExxonMobil.

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