The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos will on Wednesday rule on the dispute between Mrs Bukola George, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of HealthPlus Limited and some directors of HealthPlus Limited, a pharmaceutical retailing firm.
The ruling will determine whether the court proceeds with contempt proceedings against Alter-Semper and its bankers or listens to arguments on whether the matter should be referred to arbitration as agreed by the parties in the Transaction Agreement document, a statement from HealthPlus on Tuesday said.
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HealthPlus has been embroiled in crisis since the majority of investor terminated Mrs George’s appointment as CEO of the company. She and her husband had sold their majority shares in HealthPlus to the new investors Alta-Semper and took a management contract that could be terminated by the majority of the directors.
Mrs George had filed petitions with the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the House of Representatives and Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN) to intervene in the matter which is in court. The House however dismissed any cause for hearing saying the case was before a court.
When the matter was heard in November 2020 by Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, the lawyers to Mrs George led by Chief Bolaji Ayomide said the defendants had disobeyed the Status Quo Order of the court issued when the police attempted to arrest Mrs George for failure to respond to its invitations.
Mrs George and her lawyers had claimed that the Status Quo Order prevented the company from accessing its bank accounts. But the counsel to HealthPlus and the foreign investors, lawyers from the Chambers of Olaniwun Ajayi, insisted the police invitation had nothing to do with the court proceedings is to determine the rights of Mrs Bukky George as a minority shareholder of the company.
They submitted that the Status Quo Order did not stop the company from being operated by its directors, and urged the court to proceed in its hearing.
