NBC loses bid to stay court order against Fanta, Sprite

A bid by the Nigerian Bottling Company to stay a court order on two of its products, Fanta and Sprite have hit a brick wall.

The company had applied to a High Court in Lagos praying it to stay execution of a judgment which mandated it to indicate on the bottles of Fanta and Sprite that the products are unsafe when taken with Vitamin C.

The court had in March this year ordered the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to mandate NBC to include a warning on its bottles of Fanta and Sprite that its contents cannot be taken with Vitamin C as same become poisonous.

But the company through its lawyer, Mr. Tunde Busari (SAN), had returned to the court to stay execution of the judgment pending the outcome of an appeal it filed.

Busari state’s that it was important to protect the company’s business interest pending when the appeal is determined.

But the presiding judge, Justice Adedayo Oyebanji while refusing the application, held that any adverse effect suffered by the NBC to its business interest could be redressed, but any injury to human health could not.

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According to him, “It seems to the court evident that in the event of a refusal of the application for stay of execution, if the business interest of the Nigerian Bottling Company is consequently adversely affected, a return to status quo can be achieved if Nigerian Bottling Company’s appeal at the Court of Appeal succeeds. It is beyond argument that if the application for stay is granted and human health is consequently adversely affected, it is most unlikely that there can indeed be a return to status quo.

“It is imperative to add the resultant effect of the order sought to be stayed is the preservation of human life.”

He continued, that “the business interest of the Nigerian Bottling Company cannot, in my respected view, take precedent over public health. The importance of public health is clearly demonstrated and underscored by the constitutional provision in Section 45 thereof.

“For the reasons herein adumbrated, it seems to me manifest that the Nigerian Bottling Company has failed to disclose any special circumstances which would warrant the grant of this application.

“Accordingly, Nigeria Bottling Company’s application for stay of execution fails and it is hereby dismissed.”

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