Erisco Foods And Chioma Egodi: All To Know

It seems there is no end in sight as Erisco Foods has threatened to sue Chioma Egodi, for N5 billion.

It all started when on September 17, Chioma Egodi made a review about Nagiko Tomato paste, a product of Erisco Foods via her Facebook page.

She wrote: “I went to buy tin tomatoes yesterday that I will use to make stew. I didn’t see Gino and Sonia. “So, I decided to buy this one. When I opened it, I decided to taste it. Omo! Sugar was just too much. Ha, biko, let me know if you have used this tin tomato before because this is an Ike gwuru situation.”

The post went viral and garnered lots of reactions from her followers.

In a swift reaction, The company, Erisco Foods Limited released a statement, tagging the claims “untrue.”

The statement also claimed that Egodi’s post was “obviously intended to mislead our esteemed customers and discredit the image of Erisco Foods Limited, as previously instigated by some elements and syndicates who are uncomfortable with our increasing market dominance as a leading indigenous manufacturer of tomato pastes.

The company also wrote a petition to the police to investigate the claims dated September 19, 2023.

Egodi was arrested leading to an outrage on social media with netizens demanding her release. They questioned her arrest over the issue and called for a boycott of Nagiko Tomato Mix.

The Federal Complaints and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) eventually waded into the matter and secured the Facebook user’s release.

Erisco Foods Founder Shares His Side Of The Story

In an interview with Arise News, Erisco Foods founder, Eric Umeofia said that he had the right to call for the arrest of Chioma Egodi, a reviewer of one of their products, Najiko Tomato Mix, as he said that she was out for the downfall of his business.

He also threatened to sue Egodi Jr. for N5 billion if she did not issue an apology on her social media sites within seven days.

Umeofia expressed his displeasure, claiming that Chioma had never purchased from Erisco Foods and contesting her baseless assertions.

“If it is a product review, as you people assumed, she would have posted it and allowed people to review. But where she said by herself that our product is killing people…we now began to suspect what is this nonsense? We will not allow our efforts of 40 years to now be destroyed by a syndicate of importers that have been fighting our products since the beginning.

He described how he sought the assistance of the Inspector General of Police in locating Chioma, which led to a meeting with her and her family. She ultimately admitted fault and apologized with a written apology, although Umeofia didn’t have a copy at the time.

The content of the apology letter, reads:

“ I sincerely wish to apologise to Erisco Foods Limited on the post I made on facebook about their product Nagiko Tomatoes mix. I am truly sorry sir, I am sorry for the less concern of the product.”
“I regret my actions, and wish to be forgiven. I pledge that this type of bad behaviour will never happen again. I undertake to retract my all my earlier post on this matter immediately, this is without any compulsion.”
“I will do everything within my power to rectify all the thing I did wrong concerning the matter.Once again I am very sorry for the damage done to the company, it’s customers and the general public.”
“Thank you Sir.’

When he was asked if he was taking legal action against Egodi, he said,

“We will be suing her for N5 billion. I have a credit line of $15 million from two customers that is now suspended by a Chinese company. They claim that I may not be able to repay the credit they extended to me. So, I am suing her for not posting the apology letter. If she refuses to comply, we will meet in court.