PRESS RELEASE

FINDINGS AND DECISIONS OF SECURITIES AND EXCHANGECOMMISSION IN RESPECT OF THE ALLEGED MANIPULATIONOF SHARE PRICE OF AP PLC BY NOVA FINANCE ANDSECURITIES LTD AND ALHAJI ALIKO DANGOTE

Abuja, April 16, 2009

The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (theCommission) was drawn to a publication by AP Plc in Thisday Newspaperof March 24, 2009 wherein the company alleged that its share price wasmanipulated by Nova Finance and Securities Ltd and Alhaji Aliko Dangote,thereby leading to a decline in its value. According to the publication, Nova Finance and Securities Ltd had for eight(8) weeks beginning from February 11, 2009 continued cross deals of 50,000 units of Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s shareholding in AP Plc betweenNova Finance and Securities Limited and Aliko Dangote share account atthe Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS). These transactionscontinued till March 20, 2009. This resulted in the fall in the share price of AP Plc from N216.13 (which was the opening price on February 11, 2009) toN54.18 as at March 20, 2009.Following thepublication, the Commission immediately commencedinvestigations into the matter and invited the Board of AP Plc for a meeting. At the conclusion of the investigation, all the parties involved were invitedto the Commission on April 3, 2009 to explain their rolesin the alleged caseofmanipulation of AP Plc share price. The parties invited were:1.AP Plc2.Nova Finance and Securities Ltd3.Alhaji Aliko Dangote

4.The Nigerian Stock Exchange5.Central Securities Clearing SystemLtd.6.Afribank Registrars LtdThe following Parties were present at the meeting:1.

AP Plc represented by:

i.Tunde Falasinnu-Chief OperatingOfficerii.Elizabeth Idigbe-Company Secretary iii.Akubueze B. U.-Investor Relations Manager2.

Nova Finance and Securities Ltd represented by:

i.Eugene Anenih-Managing Director3.

Alh. Aliko Dangote represented by:

i.Uzo Nwankwo-Dangote Groupii.Muyiwa Balogun -Counsel to Aliko Dangote4.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) represented by:

i.Kene Okafor-GM (Quotation and Listing)5.

Central Securities Clearing System Ltd represented by:

i.Joe Mekiliuwa-Head,Information Technology 6.

Afribank Registrars Ltd represented by:

i.Mr. C. OUkandu-Chief Executive Officer At the meeting, parties were called upon to explain their roles in the matter.The Managing Director of Nova Finance and SecuritiesLtdinformed theCommission that he got oral mandate through telephone calls from AlhajiDangote to effect the transactions. Alhaji Dangote’s representative, whilestating his principal’s position,made it clear to the Commission that AlhajiDangote did not at anytime give any mandate to Nova Finance andSecurities Ltd to carry out the transactions.Following this statement, the MD of Nova Finance and SecuritiesLtdretracted his earlier statement that he received Alhaji Dangote’s mandate tocarry out the transactions. He categorically stated that he did not get any form of mandate from Alhaji Dangote for the transactions.

The representative of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in his comments,informed the Commission that the Council of the Exchange had consideredthe motives behind the transactions and concluded that Nova Finance andSecurities Ltd acted inappropriately. As regards the publication of CSCS statements on the alleged transactions by AP Plc, the representative of CSCS Ltd stated that in the course of performing its role as clearing and settlement agent of the Capital Market,regular updates on transactions were usually sent to Registrars of companies. It was his view that this must have formed the basis for the saidpublication. He refuted the suggestion that the information was obtaineddirectly from the CSCS by AP Plc.In his reaction, the representative of Afribank RegistrarsLtd stated that theCSCS statements published by AP Plc was obtained from Afribank RegistrarsLtdas Registrar to the company and that regular updates ontransactions were usually received from CSCS. According to him, Afribank RegistrarsLtd, being the agent of AP Plc, could give all informationobtained from the CSCS to the company in the discharge of its functions.In response to a question as to how AP Plc arrived at the conclusion that itsshare price was being manipulated, theChief Operating Officer of AP Plcstated that some of its shareholders drew the company’s attention to thefact that something unusual was happening to its shareprice. According tohim, this prompted the company to commence close monitoring of transactions on its shares. This led to the discovery of the cross deals between Nova Finance and Securities Ltd and Alhaji Aliko Dangote in amanner that created the impression that there was active trading on thestock which was in fact not the case. He stated that the details of thetransactions were obtained and subsequently published in the Newspapers.In answer to a question as to whether the company was aware of the marketprice of AP Plc shares prior to and after the alleged manipulation, theCompany Secretary of AP Plc submitted that although the bearish conditionin the market impacted negatively on the price of securities, the case of APPlc was unique given the fact that the transactionscreated a falseimpression regarding the level of activity in AP Plc shares.The records of the alleged manipulated transactions as obtained by SECinvestigating team from the CSCS were circulated to all the parties and they were accepted by all as the transactionsdone by Nova Finance andSecurities Ltd. The transactions involved series of cross deals between