The atmosphere in the boardroom was so tense it could be cut with a knife. Edward reviewed the agenda he‘d prepared and waited for Ogbonna to pass it out to the other ten people in the room. There were Benibo and Mrs. Olayomi; the group directors for Finance, Strategy, Operations and Communication as well as the managers of the four arms of the company. The non-executive directors were absent, but Edward planned to have them at the next meeting in a few days when more plans would have been drawn up. He called the meeting to order.

“How is everyone this morning?” He looked towards those who had stayed late with him last night, andthey all nodded with the others. It was time to get down to the nitty-gritty.

“Good. We‘re going to stick with the agenda and get the updates first.” He continued, “I sent out a request to the necessary people this morning. Communications, what is the plan?”

Sola Amana joined Bestman two years ago but had several years experience in business communication and came highly recommended. “We earlier had a couple of enquiries from the press, and we have more coming in. You would have noticed the public announcement of the takeover bid in today‘s business headlines,”

Everyone nodded and she continued, “Fortunately we have good public relations and accessibility. We‘re in a position of strength.”