Seplat Energy Drags Former Chairman, Orjiako To Court Over Alleged False Representation

*Demands N5bn Damages

Seplat Energy Plc has filed a writ of summons before the Federal High Court in Abuja, demanding N5bn in damages from its former Chairman, Ambrose Orjiako.

It the suit, marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/386/2023, Orjiako was sued alongside his company, Amaze Limited.

In the suit, Seplat is asking, among others, that the court declare the use of its official letterhead by Orjiako to make an offer in the sum of $300m, without recourse to the board, a clear breach of the terms of their subsisting consulting agreement and a breach of the Companies and Allied Matter Act, 2020.

It also asked the court to declare Orjiako’s signing of the letter by designating himself as “Pioneer Chairman” as an unknown designation intended to deceive the audience and gain unmerited pecuniary benefits.

The plaintiff also prays the court to grant an order of perpetual injunction, restraining Orjiako and Amaze Limited from representing Seplat Energy “any further without proper written approval of the Seplat board, while also voiding all existing unilateral commitments and representations also made by Orjiako.”

The firm is urging the court to make “a declaration that the defendants acted in contravention of the Companies and Allied Matters Act and the operation and regulation of the plaintiff when the 1st defendant unilaterally issued a letter dated December 22, 2022, purporting same to be from the plaintiff to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources without the approval of the plaintiff or its board of directors

“A declaration that the unilateral act on of the 1st defendant via a letter dated December 22, 2022 to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources representing same as being from the plaintiff without the consent of the plaintiff and or its board of directors constitutes a grave act of deceit and false representation, especially as it is intended to bind the plantiff in a transaction worth over $300m only which act is unlawful as it negates the provisions of Section 90(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 and the Articles and Regulations of the plaintiff.”

Seplat prayed the court to award “damages in the sum of N5,000,000,000.00 only against the 1st and 2nd defendants jointly and severally for deceit and false representation against the plaintiff.”

Seplat Energy Plc has been in the news lately following the travails of its Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown.

On March 10, 2023, the Federal High Court in Lagos restrained Brown from parading himself as the firm’s CEO, pending the determination of a suit filed against him and others by aggrieved stakeholders of the company.