Following the mass resignation of executive directors of Cadbury Nigeria Plc, a new leadership team has been appointed to oversee the operations of the company pending the inauguration of a new board.

The leadership team is led by the Acting managing director, Mr. Wallace Garland.

Vanguard reliably gathered that the leadership team comprising of senior managers were drawn from various departments of the company.

According to impeccable source from the company, “The interim leadership team were given the task to reposition the company to a clean state. They were selected based on their individual merit as four executive directors resigned voluntarily following the indictment of the former managing director, Mr. Bunmi Oni, over financial impropriety in the company’s 2006 results.

However, reactions have continued to trail the mass resignation of the four executive directors of Cadbury. 

When contacted over the development in Cadbury, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Sola Oni, said that he was not aware whether the company had notified the Exchange of the appointment of a  new board.

According to him, \"The NSE is not bothered of how many executive directors resigned from a company.

What the Exchange is interested in is for a company to notify it of any appointment on the board. The NSE has the right to reject a person appointed as a managing director of company who is of a questionable character.

So in the case of Cadbury Nigeria Plc, I am not aware if the company has issued official statement to the NSE regarding the composition of a new board.�

Meanwhile, stockbrokers who reacted over the incidence in Cadbury said it was pathetic but the voluntary resignation by the executive directors was in order.

According to them “The mass resignation was a good omen for the company since it is in line with ethics of corporate governance. The company has taken a position to clean up the mess done by the past board. It is a good thing that this is coming at a point when regulatory authorities have been championing and clamouring on good corporate governance.Vanguard