In what will come across as a really startling development, a poultry farm has dragged Hybrid Feeds Limited to court over the sale of poisonous poultry feeds in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Daily Post reports that the farm, Redi Foods had last year bought alleged poisoned poultry feeds from Hybrid Feeds.
It was, however, revealed that more than 2,000 birds that consumed the feeds died a few days after consumption of the feeds.
Tests conducted by a government-approved laboratory revealed that the laying birds kept for breeding by the claimant died as a result of the contaminated feeds.
Our correspondent who witnessed the Court session on Thursday gathered that the claimant dragged the Hybrid Feeds to court over failure to compensate it for the losses accrued.
Counsel to the claimant, Mr Adebayo Salau told Justice Ishola of Court 8, Oyo State High Court, Ring Road, Ibadan on Thursday that all efforts made by the claimant to get compensation proved abortive.
He said, “I am here to represent my client who is the claimant. What happened was that my client purchased some poultry feeds at Hybrid Feeds and almost the whole stock died.
“It was discovered that the feeds were highly poisonous, with Aflatoxin level 11 times above the safe levels permitted, to the extent that the birds reared by my client died rapidly within a few days.
“At the last sitting of the court on March 11, 2021, counsel to Hybrid Feed pleaded with the court to grant it time to settle out of court with my Client, Redi Foods. It turned out, however, that they were merely playing games and probably looking for ways to buy time.
“Now, today we have applied to the Court that the case is adjourned for hearing. We are demanding the sum of N12.5m for the loss and we are demanding the sum of N5m as general damages, making a total of N17.5m”.
Counsel to the defendant, Ms Seun Akande, in her submission told the Court that the defendant and the claimant were yet to agree on the terms and conditions in the out of court settlement process.
She said, “We have not been able to reach a compromise”.
The presiding judge after listening to both the claimant’s and defendant’s counsels on Thursday adjourned the case till 1st March 2022.
