Seplat’s scheduled AGM remains as court adjourns suit to May 31

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Seplat Energy Plc slated for May 10, 2023 will, after all, hold as scheduled.

This follows the ruling of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja adjourning suit FHC/ABJ/PET/8/2023 filed by some minority shareholders in Boniface Okezie V. SEPLAT Energy Plc to May 31, 2023.

The presiding judge, Hon. Justice Inyang Ekwo, ordered that all the respondents should be served before the matter could be taken. All parties were represented except the 10th (the Corporate Affairs Commission).

The Federal High Court declined to accede to the request by Boniface Okezie and four other alleged shareholders of Seplat Energy Plc who filed suit No. FHC/ABJ/ PET/8/2023 seeking exparte Interim Orders to restrain Seplat from holding it’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

The court adjourned hearing on the petitions filed by the petitioners to May 31, 2023. The meeting would therefore be held as planned.

In a statement signed by Seplat’s board chairman, Mr. Basil Omiyi, the company has refuted all allegations made in the petitions which, given their almost identical wording to a separate petition filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, have been described as clearly being part of an orchestrated attempt to damage the company in response to its efforts to improve corporate governance by eliminating related party transactions and implementing other governance initiatives.

Meanwhile, Seplat has announced that the Federal High Court in Abuja has formally struck out the criminal charge brought by the Nigeria Immigration Service against the company and some of its officers, adding that the court has fully discharged all named defendants.