Court fixes date to hear Dangote’s N100bn suit against oil marketers

The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled January 30 for the hearing of a lawsuit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.

The suit seeks to invalidate petrol import licences granted to certain oil marketing companies.

Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the case on Monday to allow for the service of court documents to all parties involved.

During the resumed proceedings, George Ibrahim, counsel for the plaintiff, informed the court that the matter was originally slated for either a settlement report or an update on the service of court papers.

Ibrahim, however, said they had been unable to take steps to effect service of the processes and that reconciliation issues had also not been looked into because of a motion filed to amend their originating summons due to the error discovered in the earlier application.

Similarly, the lawyers for respondents Matthew Bukar (NMDPRA), Ahmed Raji (AYM Shafa, A.A. Rano Limited and Matrix Limited), and Divine Oguru (T. Time Petroleum and 2015 Petroleum Limited) told the court they had not been served with the process.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024 and brought by Dangote Petroleum, which joins the NMDPRA, NNPCL, A.Y.M. Shafa Holdings Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited as defendants, also seeks the award of N100 billion in damages against the defendants.

Among the reliefs in the matter is “A declaration that by the provisions of Section 8(1) of the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act (NEPZA), Sections 23(h) and 55(1) of the Companies Income Tax Act (CIT Act), Paragraph 6 of the Second Schedule to the CIT Act, Regulation 54(2)(a)(i) of the Dangote Industries Free Zone Regulation 2020, and the Finance Act, the plaintiff, being an entity duly registered as a Free-Zone Enterprise, is exempted from all federal, state, and local government taxes, levies, and other rates.”