All seems not well for the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc as a Federal High Court sitting in Minna, Niger State has been called upon to shutdown its production across the country over alleged contaminated products sold to Nigerians.
In the case, FHC/MN/CS/15/19, which was first mentioned on Thursday, Adewuyi Adewunmi versus Nigerian Bottling Company as 1st Defendant, National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control as 2nd Defendant and the Nigeria Consumer Protection Council as 3rd Defendant, the plaintiff claimed the bottles of Sprite he bought in March 2019 are not healthy for consumption for Nigerians.
This accusation was levelled by the Counsel to the plaintiff, Oyelekan Akingbade of Ultimate Chambers, asking the Court to order the Defendants to compensate Adewunmi with the sum of N25 million.
Akingbade said it will serve as deterrent to other erring companies who take Nigerians for granted.
According to the Writ of Summons made available to our Correspondent by Akingbade: “We are asking the Court to compel the 1st Defendant (NBC) to shutdown production across the country pending recertification by the 2nd Defendant.
“We pray the Court to compel the 3rd Defendant (NCPC) to carry out an awareness of contaminated products produced by the 1st Defendant across the country; an immediate confiscation of all such products.
“We seek an order of the Court compelling the 1st Defendant to pay the sum of N20 million to the Plaintiff for psychological trauma and general charges and of course the sum of N5 million as cost of litigation against the 1st Defendant.”
While saying the expiration dates of the products are in June 2019, Akingbade queried the “the 1st Defendant’s intention is to produce poisonous substance which are injurious to the health of Nigerians,” adding: “This has caused several health problems to many Nigerians and have ended up in various hospitals.”
However, Counsel to the 1st Defendant (NBC), Barrister Amuwa Olatunde, told our Correspondent: “We produce our bottles according to international standards. We will fight this case with all the legal arsenals.
“We are armed to the teeth, we won’t handle this case with Levity because the corporate image of of the NBC is at stake through damages.”
The Court, presided over by Justice Aliyu Aminu Aliyu, fixed May 13, 2019 for further mentioning of the case.
