Western Lotto Reacts To Protest At Lagos Federal High Court, Says Protesters Are Saboteurs

The management of Western Lotto Limited has reacted to a protest that happened at the premises of Federal High Court, Lagos, by alleged supporters of owners of Premier Lotto and Golden Chance Lotto, describing it as an act of sabotage.

The protesters, in various inscriptions of their placards, also accused judges handling cases between Western Lotto and other Lotto promoters of bias.

The protesters who arrived outside the court’s premises before 8am, chanting solidarity songs, including” We no go gree oh, we want justice, we no go gree”, as they marched round the court’s premises

Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: ‘Justice is not for sale’, ‘Shine your eyes’, ‘Stop abusing judicial process,’ We say no to Kashamu’s judicial rascality’, ‘there are ‘judicial bias’ and several others. 

Reacting to the protest, Western Lotto Limited’s management in a statement issued by its Managing Director, Dr. Olumide Adedeji, the promoters of the protest only resorted to cheap blackmail and mudslinging, after their acts of economic sabotage which runs into N100 billion have been exposed through Western Lotto’s patriotic efforts

Western Lotto management statement captioned: “Protest At The Federal High Court; Our Response”, reads in parts: “our attention has been drawn to a purported protest sponsored by the duo of Premier Lotto’s Chief Kessington Adebutu and Golden Chance Lotto’s Idowu Obasa against today’s proceedings at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi. 

“The indubitable fact is that since their acts of economic sabotage which runs into N100 billion have been exposed through Western Lotto’s patriotic efforts, they have resorted to all manner of cheap blackmail and mudslinging. The stage-managed protest is one of such activities. 

“They seem to have lost faith in the capacity of their legal teams to save them; hence the resort to extra-judicial tactics. They are doing all these with a view to stall the out-of-court settlement between Western Lotto and the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) so that they can continue to illegally sell the Ghana games and short-changing of the Federal Government.

“For avoidance of doubt, Western Lotto is a body corporate registered under the relevant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is surprising why some economic saboteurs and rent-seekers would want to smear people’s names in their desperate bid to continue their open robbery of the system while pretending to be legitimate businessmen and philanthropists. 

“We wish to state that there is no law that forbids parties in a dispute from reaching an out-of-court settlement as far as it concerns them. Any party who wants to sustain the action as it relates to him is at liberty to do so. But, such a party cannot stop two consenting parties from reaching an out-of-court settlement, especially when such is in the overall interest of the Government and people, as manifested in the quantum leap in remittances from the lottery operators since Western Lotto championed the campaign to sanitise the gaming industry.

“The out-of-court settlement between the Western Lotto and the NLRC is in line with the provisions of the National Lottery Act, 2005, as amended in 2017. It is in the best interest of all stakeholders; the Federal Government, owners of the games, operators, agents and stakers, as against what used to be the practice where a mafia was unjustly favoured!

“As a responsible corporate organisation, we wish to reiterate our commitment to conducting our business activities within the ambits of the law. We will not descend into the arena with those who find it difficult to stick to best practices and minimum global standards in the running of their businesses. We refuse to be distracted”.