The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Seplat Energy Plc, Mr. Rogers Brown has been sacked by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
This order continues until the end of the suit instituted against him by the aggrieved shareholders of the Company.
The suit is the climax of allegations of racism, favouring of expatriate workers, discrimination against Nigerians, and breach of good governance.
Others affected by the order is the Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Basil Omiyi, and all the Non-Executive Directors under him from “continuing to run the affairs of Seplat in an illegal, unfair, prejudicial, and oppressive manner pending the hearing and determination of the Petitioner’s Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction”.
This is the directive, Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke while ruling on a Motion Exparte.
The application was filed by some aggrieved stakeholders of Seplat, Moses Igbrude, Sarat Kudaisi, Kenneth Nnabike, Ajani Abidoye, and Robert Ibekwe, petitioners, against the respondents, Seplat Energy PLC, Mr. Roger Thompson Brown, and Mr. Basil Omiyi.
Justice Aneke also granted the petitioners leave to serve the petition, any order of court and all other processes to be issued subsequently in the matter by pasting in the premises of Seplat Energy located at Ikoyi, Lagos.
The court subsequently adjourned to March 23 for hearing of the pending application.
The applicants had in their Motion on Notice filed by their lawyer, Jeph Njikonye (SAN), prayed the court for a declaration that the affairs of Seplat have been conducted in a manner that is illegal, oppressive and unfairly prejudicial to the petitioners and other members of Seplat and in total disregard to the interest of the petitioners, other employees, and Seplat as a whole.
They equally seek a declaration that by condoning the unlawful, discriminatory, and abusive conducts of the CEO, Roger Brown, the Board Chairman, Basil Omiyi, and the Non-executive Directors have “failed in the discharge of their duties and are unfit to continue to function in the Board of Directors of the 1st Respondent (Seplat).
Consequently, the petitioners seek “An order of mandatory injunction restraining the 2nd Respondent (Brown) from parading himself as, or continuing to operate as the CEO of the 1st Respondent (Seplat) or working for Seplat in any other capacity”.
They equally seek an order restraining Seplat and the Board Chairman from retaining Brown as the CEO of Seplat or retaining his services for Seplat in other capacity whatsoever.
