The federal government sealed off the popular supermarket, Sahad Store, on Friday over price fixing and to clamp down on the issue of hoarding of commodities in the country.

The enforcement was led by Adamu Ahmed Abdullahi, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) executive vice-chairman, who accused the store in Garki, Abuja, of shortchanging customers by charging prices other than the price tag at the shelves.

Mr Abdullahi disclosed that FCCPC’s preliminary investigation confirmed that the management of the supermarket has been shortchanging customers and lacks transparency in their price and, as a result, will remain sealed until further investigation has been carried out.

“What we have found out that these people are doing is misleading pricing and lack of transparency in the pricing, which is against Section 115 (3) of the law that says a consumer is not required to pay a price for any good or service higher than the one that’s on display,” Mr Abdullahi said.

He added, “Section 155 states that any corporate person that contravenes is liable to a fine of N100 million or even more and the directors of the company themselves are liable upon conviction payment of N10 million each or imprisonment of six months or both.”

According to the FCCPC executive vice-chairman, the commission had previously informed the store to come and defend themselves but were ignored.

However, in the long run, a lawyer representing the store was sent, who admitted that he wasn’t familiar with the case.

Mr Abdullahi said the commission had sealed the store to ensure they comply with the law and that he would not unseal it until “they do what is required to be done.”