.png)
Tayo Busayo, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - MultiChoice Nigeria Limited has queried the jurisdictional capacity of the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) to issue an order barring it from hiking its tariffs.
The firm is also contending that the issue raised in the case before the tribunal (tariffs’ hike) is res judicata (had been pronounced on by a court) and that it was a completed act, which has been carried out.
While addressing the three-member tribunal on Tuesday, May 7, MultiChoice’s lawyer, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) said his client filed an application on April 30 challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to make the order it made on April 29.
Onigbanjo, the immediate past Attorney General of Lagos State, said he also filed a memorandum of conditional appearance on the same April 30.
He urged the court to first hear and determine his client’s application before taking any further steps in the case challenging Multi-Choice’s recent raise of its tariffs.
Onigbanjo contended that where the jurisdiction of a court is challenged, the issue must first be decided before the court could take further steps in the case.
The tribunal had on April 29 issued an ex-parte interim injunction restraining MultiChoice from increasing DSTV and GOTV tariffs scheduled to begin on May 1, pending the determination of the case, marked: CCPT/OP/02/2024, filed by a lawyer, Festus Onifade, who claimed to also be a subscriber.
At the mention of the case on Tuesday, Onifade sought to have his pending motion heard, but was opposed by Onigbanjo and the lawyer to the second defendant, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), M. Adeke demanded time to file their responses.
Onifade also drew the tribunal’s attention to some fresh motions he filed, including a “notice of consequence of disobedience to order of the court (Form 48).
He also spoke about a motion in which he is seeking an order, directing MultiChoice to pay of N1billion or any amount the tribunal deems appropriate as a penalty for its alleged deliberate disobedience and failure to comply with the interim order issued on April 29.
In a supporting document, Onifade claimed that despite being aware of the order, which was duly served on MultiChoice on April 29, the firm deliberately neglected to comply with the order and willfully increased the tariffs on its products and services on May 1.
Onifade claimed that MultiChoice has a history of disobeying court/tribunal orders.
He recalled that in 2015, Justice C. J Aneke of the Federal High Court (FHC) in Ikeja, Lagos gave an order, restraining MultiChoice from increasing the prices of its products and services, but it went ahead and increased the tariffs despite the order of the court.
Onifade also noted that in 2018, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, who was then sitting at the Federal High Court in Abuja granted an order sought by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) – which has been rechristened FCCPC – restraining MultiChoice from increasing its prices pending the substantive case, it obeyed the order.
The lawyer added that the tribunal granted an order on March 22, 2022, restraining MultiChoice from increasing its tariffs, but it went ahead with the tariffs’ hike on April 1, claiming it was a completed act.
The tribunal has adjourned till May 16 for a hearing.
