Seplat to hold AGM tomorrow in compliance with the Law – Basil Omiyi, Seplat Chairman

Mr. Basil Omiyi (CON), Board Chairman of Seplat Energy Plc, has assured that the Company will hold its scheduled Annual General Meeting (AGM) tomorrow, 10th of May 2023, in compliance with the final and binding judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court.
An Abuja Federal High Court today (09/05/2023) delivered a final and binding Judgment, ordering Seplat Energy Plc to hold its scheduled Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The judgment delivered by Justice A.R. Mohammed J in Suit number FHC/ABJ/PET/7/2023 – Akinnifesi&Adelaja V. Seplat Energy Plc – ‘further restrains any current or former directors, shareholders, and officers of the Company from canceling or postponing the AGM as announced to the public”.
Mr. Basil Omiyi stated that in due compliance with the Law and the Judgement, its AGM will hold on 10th May 2023 at 11:00 am, as expressly ordered by the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
According to him, the announcement on the AGM “is made pursuant to Rule 17.10 of the Rulebook of the Nigerian Exchange, 2015 (Issuer’s Rule)”.
What could have possibly thwarted the AGM was overcome last week as the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja adjourned the suit number 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 had ordered that all the respondents should be served before the matter could be taken.
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 an ex-parte Interim Orders to restrain Seplat from holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The court adjourned the hearing on the petitions filed by the Petitioners to May 31, 2023.
In an earlier 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.
The suit before Justice Inyang Ekwo was brought by Boniface Okezie, Bon. Bright Nwabuogwu, John Isesele, Okonkwo Timothy, and Augustine Ezechukwu (Petitioners/Applicants) against Seplat Energy PLC; company CEO, Mr. Roger Brown; Board Chairman, Mr. Basil Omiyi; as well as Independent Non-Executive Directors of the company, Dr. Charles Okeahialam, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, Rabiu Bello, Mrs. BashiratOdenewu, Emma Fitzgerald; Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Mrs. Edith Onwuchekwa, and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The attempt by the counsel to the Petitioners to get the court to halt the AGM was opposed by each of the counsel for the Respondents. After listening to Kalu Onuoha, Esq. Counsel for the Petitioners; Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Counsel for Seplat; Matthew Burka, SAN, of Counsel for Roger Brown (who held the brief of Dr. Hassan Liman, SAN) of Counsel for Rabiu Bello and Emma Fitzgerald; Uzoma Azikiwe, SAN, of Counsel for Basil Omiyi; O.A. Omonuwa, SAN, of Counsel for Dr. Charles Okeahialam and Prof. Fabian Ajogwu; and Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, of Counsel for Mrs. BashiratOdenewu and Mrs. Edith Onwuchekwa, Justice Ekwo had ruled that: “Parties are hereby ordered not to tamper with the rest until issues are resolved.”