Court of Appeal Suspends Enforcement of Interim Court Orders against Seplat and its Officers
Seplat Energy has announced that, the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, has suspended the ex parte Interim Orders granted on 11 May 2023 by the Hon. Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/626/2023 – Juliet Gbaka & 2 others v. Seplat Energy Plc & 13 others, and served on the Company on 12 May 2023.
The Court subsequently adjourned pending applications to 30 May 2023 for hearing.
As previously announced, the Interim Orders were made pursuant to a petition which was the third in a series of duplicative petitions filed by minority shareholders between March and April 2023.
The Interim Orders primarily restrained the Board Chairman, named Independent Non-Executive Directors, the Chief Operating Officer and the Company Secretary from operating or functioning as officers of Seplat Energy in any capacity, or otherwise conducting the affairs of the Company, and directed the Securities & Exchange Commission to appoint suitable persons to run the affairs of the Company.
Seplat Energy expressed confidence that the courts will appropriately address the frivolous litigations according to the company, brought by a combination of 13 minority shareholders holding less than 800 shares out of 589 million shares (or 0.0001% of the Company’s issued shares).
This announcement is made pursuant to Rule 17.10 of the Rulebook of the Nigerian Exchange, 2015 (Issuer’s Rule).
