Court Reserves Ruling in CPC's Case against Coca-Cola

Court Reserves Ruling in CPC's Case against Coca-Cola

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday fixed February 3, 2015, for ruling on the objection of Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, its Managing Director, Mr Adeola Adetunji, as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Bottling Company, Ben Langat, ‎for alleged breach of the Consumers Protection Council Act.

Among the grounds of their objection to the trial is that the private counsel, who is a former Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), was not validly authorised to prosecute them.

‎They argued that the fiat given to Ojo by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) was fraught with irregularities.

In line with an earlier directive of the court, Adetunji was present in court on Wednesday, which the presiding judge had adjourned the matter till after hearing the supporting and opposing arguments to the applications on December 3.
The ruling was then adjourned till February 3 because the ruling was not ready on Thursday.

‎The office of the AGF had instituted two separate criminal suits against Coca-Cola, NBC alongside their Chief Executives over alleged ‎violation of CPC Act.

Apart from challenging the fiat given to Ojo to prosecute the case, the chief executives are also challenging the competence of the charge and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the charge.

‎Counsel for the Coca-Cola, Gbolahan Elias (SAN), and that for NBC, Oluseyi Santa (SAN), had argued that the presence of their clients in court was not necessary while their application challenging the jurisdiction of the court had not been determined.

But Ojo insisted that criminal trial could not commence without ‎the presence of the accused persons