SNH appoints Bernard Bayiha as Board Chairman of IBC

The Cameroonian polytechnic engineer, Bernard Bayiha , currently the top advisor at Société nationale des hydrocarbures (SNH), was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board at International Business Corporation (IBC), a subsidiary of the SNH specialised in metallic construction, production and processing of steel and metal products.

The decision taken following the board meeting held on April 28, 2014 in Douala, according to a document published by the company, led to the removal of the CEO post previously held by Leopold Ekwa Ngallé, minority shareholder through the company LEN Holding, who was “revoked” by the board due to the bickering that occurred with the majority shareholder, SNH. In the absence of a Managing Director, Augustine Ndum Broh, appointed as DGA, “will automatically assume the interim position of managing Director.”

The arrival of the Bernard Bayiha as head of the Board of the SNH subsidiary has hues of being a gesture of consolation as the candidate was previously promoted to the position of Managing Director at the Cameroon’s Shipyard (the CNIC) on March 12, 2014, but did not assume his post due to opposition from SNH, also a majority shareholder in CNIC which found that it had not been consulted before the nomination. In the end, without ever enjoying the position, Mr Bayiha was replaced at the CNIC by Alfred Forgwei Mbeng on May 6, 2014 after an extraordinary board meeting was held in Douala.

The promotion of the former IBC administrator to the board chairmanship sounds the end of the management feud over IBC in which SNH and its former partner, Leopold Ekwa Ngallé, were embroiled to gain control of the company. On January 15, 2014, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration in Abidjan, the Ohada judicial body, threw out IBC’s claim on the grounds of “abuse of majority” and sentenced it to pay the State oil company 2.1 billion FCfa.

In noting IBC’s losses and the difficulties it was encountering to pay back the sums loaned to it by the SNH (61% of capital), the oil company decided, at a board meeting, to strip the IBC CEO of his title and proceed to nominations for Managing Director, Board Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. Mr Ekwa Ngallé and other partners with whom he holds 39% of IBC capital challenged this move.

These shareholders took their grouse to the CCJA in Abidjan, and ended up with a slap in the face.