FCCPC seals Abuja store over extortion, others

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Officials of Federal Competitive and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) have sealed the head office of popular Sahad Store located at Uke Street, off Ahmadu Bello way, Garki, Abuja. Operators of the supermarket were accused of shortchanging customers by charging prices other than what was in the price tag displayed at the shelves. Adamu Abdullahi, the Acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission led other operatives to seal the supermarket complex on Friday. The FCCPC Acting EVC told journalists that preliminary investigation by FCCPC operatives revealed that the supermarket was shortchanging customers, hence the decision to seal the premises of the supermarket, pending the completion of the further investigation.

He confirmed that undercover investigation was conducted over a period of time, and it was confirmed that the operators of the supermarket are extorting customers, knowingly and otherwise, through different price charge. He said: “Nigerians must know that this action was not targeted for any personal reason, but for the protection of consumers as stipulated by the FCCPC Act. The truth is that we have visited several supermarkets in Abuja, but Sahad Store in Garki was found to have violated the section of our law to protect the interest of the consumer.

“What we did was to seal the premises. Their action violated section 115(3) of FCCPC Act which frowned at consumers being charged higher than what was displayed at the price shelves.  The section recommended that anyone that contravened the section is liable to a fine of N100 million or even more, while each director in the affected company, upon conviction, is liable to N10 million each or six months imprisonment or both.” He said the attention of the operators were drawn to the alleged extortion, adding that they were invited for more explanation on the matter but they never appeared. At a point, they sent a lawyer who, obviously, claimed ignorance of the fact of the matter.

“For us to unseal the premises, the operators have to comply with the law as requested. When that is done, we would return to inspect the place and ensure that the right things are done. That’s the only way we can unseal the premises.”