Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) has accused the Abdul Samad Rabiu’-led BUA Group of blackmail following series of allegations made by BUA Foods against the company and Dangote Sugar.
BUA Foods had on Monday, accused Flour Mills of trying to blackmail the Nigerian Government in reviewing its stance against FMN on compliance issues by creating scarcity of sugar.
FMN was said to have liaised with Dangote Sugar to fix price by suspending sale of the product to the market, in an effort to raise price and profit from the scarcity during Muslim fasting period, Ramadan.
While its rival, Dangote Sugar, disclosed that BUA Foods has been reported to the Anti-competition Commission, FMN also released a statement to deny the allegations.
In the statement sent to the investing public and filed with the capital market authority, Nigerian Exchange Group, on Thursday, FMN said, “In reference to the publication in some dailies, the assertion by BUA Foods on the supposed suspension of sugar sales by FMN based on compliance issues is incorrect and indeed capable of creating a talse impression in the market, which is contrary to the interest of consumers.”
Flour Mills explained that it “has no outstanding compliance issues with the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC)”, adding that it still invest in backward integration.