At 3am this morming, I got a disclaimer notice from a top ranking member of NISL Board. He had spoken to me earlier in the week- Edgar, we are issuing a disclaimer on your friend and would like for you to assist in pushing it out.
It came this morning and I read it with a shudder. The firm has alleged in that write up that Laolu who until his sad death was the MD of the Firm but had gone ahead to set up a sister firm without the knowledge of the Board with which they claim he was collecting ‘ guaranteed income’ Funds from the Public.
When they found out, they called for a meeting and Laolu passed some few hours before the meeting and as such they have been unundated with demands from frustrated subscribers.
So this disclaimer has been thrown up by them according to my source to let the public know that NISL Ventures was a totally differnt entity and as such they could not be held liable for the criminal misdemeanor of thier late MD.
Sad abi?. Well for me this is the failure of SEC the giant and almost ineffective regulatory body whose constitutional role of regulating the markets has been relegated to part time work.
The day Laolu passed, I got a call from a very credible source. Edgar, your friend just jumped from a roof and died. I said aghh, which friend and he said Laoulu Martins.
I said no naaaaa. Laolu, why would he do that and he said, ‘ he was betting on Osun Goldmines and was taking tenored Funds from the public and risking it on the Mines.
Then the market started moving against him and he went into forex to edge and then CBN policies leading to the crash of the Naira messed him up o. So he jumped.
I said. Wow. Why would he jump and he said, ‘ the exposure was north of N15b I think’ wow, that was huge.
He continued, ‘ His Board got wind and they summoned a meeting to discuss it and I guess he would have jumped to avoid that’.
This was tough I thought. This was crazy. Why would he push that far and not know when to pull the plug and cut his losses.
That is what we are told as stockbrokers in ur very first training class. Cut your loses amd move on.
But its not as easy as that. Especially in an environment where the regulatory authorities are sleeping.
To play the markets in Nigeria is basically like a pilot flying without guidance from the control towers. You are basically on your own and when you crash, the regulators will descend like vultures pawing at your carcass
Laolu and a lot of us don’t have any meaningful regulatory framework to work with.
When I bought into an Asset Management Firm, the only independent platform I could lean on for due diligence was the fact that SEC had approved them for meeting the minimum shareholders fund
So believing that SEC being the apex regulator would have done its due diligence, I jumped in and saw no shareholders funds and a liability in excess of N4b
So when investors started reporting me to SEC and they carried their big heads to me, I asked them simply- bro you gave them a pass mark three months ago. How did you arrive at that decision. Mbok leave me alone.
They left me.
So Laoulu is alleged to have registered an SPV and started collecting public Funds and allegedly lost it.
So the question is, under what licence was he able to do that. Was he obliged to submit reports periodically? Did he have auditors both internal and external
If he did and if there is a SEC, how come the triggers did not go off at the N500m mark. Why did we allow it to get to the point where a man had to allegedly jump and another ‘innocent’ company is struggling for its corporate existence and thousands of Nigerians loosing their had earned funds with no hope of recovery.
Today NISL have issued a disclaimer. This will be very difficult for them to prove their innocence and this could take years which would erode their market presence and may even lead to more life’s lost. God forbid.
All of this would have been avoided if regulatory oversight was pre emotive instead of the defensive- no be me- type of regulation we have in the markets.
Every player from operators to investors and even stand by people must be protected by stringent regulatory environment.
This is a must otherwise, many horsemen will jump.
Serious.
NB. Read more articles like this on Thealvinreport.com
Thanks
Duke of Shomolu
