The family of the late Founder/Owner of Ascon Oil Company Limited, Engr. George Ikemefuna Enenmoh has alerted the public and the business community, particularly the oil and gas sector of the economy, that they remain the ‘absolute owner’ of the company until the shares sales purchase agreement it entered with Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited in 2019 is fully paid.
In a press statement by the matriarch of the family, Barrister Grace Enenmoh-Olowofoyeku, the family maintained that, despite all entreaties, morally and legally, to get the purchaser, Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited, to pay up, they have been foot-dragging.
Enenmoh-Olowofoyeku, who is also former Group Managing Director of Ascon Oil Company Limited, said that the immediate Enenmoh family, therefore, warned the general public, especially the business community, not to entertain anyone, or group of people, or organisation, canvassing any intension to sell the company’s assets until the purchaser, Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited, has fully discharged all its obligations, as contained in the said agreement.
The family warned: ‘Anyone negotiating to buy the assets of Ascon Oil Company Limited/Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited, prior to the payment of the full consideration/purchase price, does so at his/or her own peril.
‘Until Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited fulfills all its obligations in the agreement and pays the purchase price in full, they have no right to sell any of the assets.
‘Until they discharge all their obligations, as clearly spelt out in the agreement, the immediate family of the late Engineer George Ikemefuna Enenmoh remains the absolute owners of the company’.
Prior to its divestment in 2019, Ascon Oil Company Limited had been a major player in the downstream sector of the oil and gas sector of the economy.
Founded and nurtured by George Enenmoh, an engineer and quintessential entrepreneur, the company had many filling stations and sea-going vessels across the country, as well as tank farms in Lagos and Ogun States. The company was a big player in the industry.
But tragedy struck in 2005 as the Ascon founder/owner died in a Bellview Airlines plane crash near Lagos. And the pendulum of leadership fell on his widow, Barrister Grace Enenmoh, as the company’s Group Managing Director.
Despite the weight of that monumental tragedy, the lawyer-turned-businesswoman carried on with a steely resolve to take the company to greater heights. And she did.
However, in 2019, the company ran into turbulent economic waters. It confronted serious issues ranging from inconsistent economic policies by the government, brazen corruption in the downstream sector of the economy, erratic power supply, and “strangulating” estimated billings by the electricity distribution companies, among others.
Hard as the company tried, the problems remained intractable, and the immediate family of the late George Enenmoh, as well as other strategic stakeholders unanimously decided to sell the company.
In the same 2019, Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited bought the company. But according to Enenmoh-Olowofoyeku, the purchaser has not fully paid the purchase price till now.
Just like it was in 2019, the immediate family of the late founder of Ascon Oil Company Limited rose from a meeting last weekend with a resolution to warn the public not to enter into any negotiation to buy the assets of Ascon oil Company Limited/Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited until the purchaser has fully paid the purchase price.
Enenmoh-Olowofoyeku restated: ‘This is the position of the family. Until this current situation changes, our family, the immediate family of Engineer George Ikemefuna Enenmoh, remains the absolute owner of the company.
‘Until Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited discharges all its responsibilities as entrenched in the agreement, we appeal to members of the public, especially the business community, to stay clear of the assets of Ascon Oil Company Limited/Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited’.
