FG withdraws immigration case against Seplat’s CEO

Seplat Energy Plc has said that the immigration lawsuit against its Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown, has been withdrawn by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The FG had filed charges against Seplat Energy Plc and its CEO for an alleged breach of the Immigration Act, 2015 last week.

In a corporate notice to the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, Seplat stated that it had become aware of the notice of discontinuance of the legal action.

The Notice of Withdrawal/Discontinuance of the action was issued by the Director Legal Services of the Nigeria Immigration Service and stated in part that “the Claimant hereby discontinues all the proceedings in this charge against the above-named Defendants.”

Seplat said that it will “continue to engage with the Ministry of Interior to bring closure to the false allegations presented to the Ministry as a result of which the residency status of its Chief Executive Officer was withdrawn.”

In its suit, the FG alleged that the defendants allowed Brown, whose visa was earlier revoked, to accept employment as the CEO of the company, without the statutory approval of the Controller-General of Immigration or the consent of the Minister of Interior.

Seplat had been embroiled in a controversy after some aggrieved stakeholders accused Brown of racism, favouritism for expatriate workers, discrimination against Nigerians, and breach of the good governance code.

The company has since denied the claims.

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