Abuja: The Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the hearing of a ₦100 billion lawsuit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and five other oil marketers over an import licence dispute.
Initially slated for hearing on October 29, the case was adjourned to November 5 due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar.
Justice Umar, the presiding judge, was said to be sitting at the Enugu division of the court.
The court subsequently fixed November 5 for the hearing of the suit.
The judge had, on July 10, ordered parties in the case to regularise their processes ahead of the hearing of the suit.
Justice Umar also ordered that hearing notices be issued and served on the defendants who were not in court.
The suit, which was previously before Justice Inyang Ekwo, was reopened (de novo) following its reassignment to Justice Umar.
Dangote Refinery had sued the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) as the 1st and 2nd defendants, respectively.
Also joined in the suit are AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, as the 3rd to 7th defendants, respectively.
The oil company, through its lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, SAN, prayed the court to nullify import licences issued by NMDPRA to the NNPCL and the five other companies for the purpose of importing refined petroleum products.
NAN reports that Dangote Refinery (plaintiff) also prayed the court to declare that NMDPRA violated Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing licenses for the importation of petroleum products.
It stated that such licenses should be issued only in circumstances of a petroleum product shortfall.
It equally sought N100 billion in damages against NMDPRA for allegedly continuing to issue import licences to NNPCL and the five companies for importing petroleum products, among other reliefs.
The NNPCL, in its preliminary objection, prayed the court to strike out the case for being incompetent.
The NNPCL argued that the suit was premature and that it disclosed no cause of action against it.
“This honourable court lacks the jurisdiction to hear this suit,” the NNPCL said.
In the affidavit in support of the application deposed to by Isiaka Popoola, a clerk in the law firm of Afe Babalola & Co, counsel to the NNPCL, he said one of their lawyers, Esther Longe, who perused Dangote’s originating summons, affidavit and written address, told him that an examination of the processes showed that NNPC, as sued by the refinery, was a non-existent entity.
Popoola averred that the court lacked jurisdiction over the 2nd defendant, sued as Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
“A simple search on the CAC website shows that there is no entity called “Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC).”
According to Popoola, the 2nd defendant/objector is not the same as the 2nd defendant sued by the plaintiff.
He urged the court to strike out the suit.
Also, the NMDPRA, in its counter-affidavit deposed to by Idris Musa, a Senior Regulatory Officer in the office, prayed the court to dismiss the suit as misconceived, unmeritorious and incompetent.
Musa argued that Dangote Refinery is not entitled to any of the reliefs sought.
The official, in the application dated and filed December 13, 2024, stated that the current production of Dangote Refinery has yet to meet the national daily petroleum products sufficiency requirement.
He said, based on this and in compliance with Section 317 [9] of the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act), NMDPRA issued licences to import petroleum products to bridge product shortfalls to companies with good track records in international petroleum product trading.
Besides, he said the agency is also mandated to promote competition and prevent abuse of dominant market positions and unhealthy monopoly in the oil and gas sector.
He denied the allegation that NMDPRA is partaking in any purported “grand conspiracy and concerted efforts” against the refinery, describing it as “an allegation for which the plaintiff has provided no facts or evidence in support.”
The oil marketers, in a joint counter affidavit filed on November 5, 2024, told the court that granting Dangote’s application would spell doom for the country’s oil sector.
According to them, the plan to monopolise the oil sector is a recipe for disaster in the country.
The three marketers — AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited — in their response, said the plaintiff did not produce adequate petroleum products for the daily consumption of Nigerians.
They argued that nothing had been placed before the court to prove the contrary.
Justice Ekwo had, on March 18, dismissed the NNPCL’s objection against Dangote’s suit.
The judge dismissed the objection in the ruling, finding the application incompetent.
Justice Ekwo held that the NNPCL ought to have filed a defence in the form of a counter-affidavit to the Dangote Refinery’s originating process before objecting.
The judge, who also dismissed the NNPCL’s preliminary objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction, granted Dangote’s motion to amend its originating motion by correcting the NNPCL’s name.
Besides, Justice Ekwo also dismissed the motion for joinder filed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as an unnecessary party and a “meddlesome interloper.”
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