A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the CEO of Seplat Energy Plc, Roger Brown, to stop representing himself as the company’s CEO until the determination of a lawsuit filed against him and other stakeholders by some aggrieved shareholders.
The plaintiffs had accused Brown of racism, favouritism towards expatriates, discrimination against Nigerians and violations of good governance.
In addition to restraining Brown, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke also ordered the chairman of the company’s Board of Directors, Basil Omiyi, and all non-executive directors under him from continuing to run Seplat’s affairs in an illegal, unfair, prejudicial, and oppressive manner, pending the hearing and determination of the plaintiffs’ motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.
The order was granted in response to a Motion Exparte brought by the stakeholders. The plaintiffs in the suit are Moses Igbrude, Sarat Kudaisi, Kenneth Nnabike, Ajani Abidoye and Robert Ibekwe, while Seplat Energy Plc, Mr Roger Thompson Brown, and Mr Basil Omiyi are listed as the respondents in suit marked FHC/L/402/2023.
Justice Aneke also granted the plaintiffs/applicants leave to serve the petition, the court order, and all other processes to be issued subsequently in the matter on Brown and Omiyi by posting them in the premises of Seplat Energy, located in Ikoyi area of the state.
The case has been adjourned until March 23, 2023, for the hearing of the pending application.
