Court adjourns Dangote Refinery’s N100bn suit against NNPCL Nov. 5

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, adjourned a suit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE against Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and others over oil import licence dispute until Nov. 5 for hearing.

The matter, which was earlier fixed for today for hearing, could not proceed due to the absence of Justice Mohammed Umar in court.

Justice Umar, the presiding judge, was said to be sitting at Enugu division of the court.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 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 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, 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 was in violation of Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing licenses for the importation of petroleum products.