Court dismisses Dangote Refinery’s 100bn suit against NNPCL, others

Court

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed the N100 billion suit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE against Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its co-defendants over an oil import licence dispute.

Justice Mohammed Umar dismissed the suit following an oral application by the defence lawyers after counsel who appeared for Dangote, C.O. Adegbe, withdrew the suit.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the suit, which was formerly before Justice Inyang Ekwo, began de novo (afresh) following its reassignment to Justice Umar.

Dangote Refinery had sued the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) as 1st and 2nd defendants.

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 3rd to 7th defendants, respectively.

The oil company, through its lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, SAN, had 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.

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.

Upon the resumed hearing in the matter on Wednesday, Adegbe informed the court that though the matter was scheduled for hearing, the plaintiff (Dangote) had a notice of discontinuance dated and filed on July 28.