THE Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT), sitting in Abuja, has granted an application for substituted service of the interim order restraining MultiChoice Nigeria Limited from its plan to increase tariffs on DStv and Gotv packages with effect from May 1.
The three-member tribunal, presided over by Saratu Shaffi, granted the applicant’s motion following allegations that officers of the pay-television firm in Abuja office refused to receive service of the order and other court documents.
The applicant, Festus Onifade, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, May 1, that the CCPT bailiff alleged that one of the company’s top managers at the Abuja office said the documents should be channelled through their Lagos office, which is the headquarters.
The tribunal, therefore, gave the order of substituted service pursuant to Section 48 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), 2018; and Part N, Order 14 Rule 11(1) of the CCPT Rule, 2021.
In the certified true copy of the order of substituted service, Shaffi directed that the ex-parte order in suit number: CCPT/OP/2/2024, be pasted at the corporate headquarters or any known address of the branches of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited across Nigeria.
She also ordered that the documents be sent to the company’s “known email address, social media handles and any means of communication publicly known for MultiChoice and shall also be pasted in the CCPT communication outlet.”
The order has since been carried out, as the documents have been pasted at the MultiChoice Abuja office located at Wuse II.
The tribunal had, on Monday, April 29, stopped MultiChoice from increasing its tariffs and cost of products and services scheduled to begin on May 1, following an ex-parte motion moved by Ejiro Awaritoma, Counsel for the applicant, seeking to restrain the firm from going ahead with the price increase, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it.
Onifade, in the suit, marked: CCPT/OP/2/2024, filed on April 29, had dragged MultiChoice Nigeria Limited and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) before the tribunal.
In the suit , Onifade is seeking “an order of interim injunction of this tribunal restraining the 1st defendant, whether by themselves, her privies, assigns by whatsoever name called, from going ahead with impending price increase schedule to take effect from 1st May, 2024, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“An order restraining the 1st defendant from taking any step(s) that may negatively affect the rights of the claimant and other consumers in respect of the suit, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”
Multichoice had claimed that the price hike was due to the cost of business operations in Nigeria.This was after it had, on April 1, 2022, hiked the prices of all its packages, despite public outcry.
Prior to the effective date, Onifade filed a suit before the Thomas Okosun-led CCPT, seeking an order restraining MultiChoice from going ahead with planned increase, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated and filed on March 30, 2022.
Although the tribunal granted the ex-parte motion, directing parties to maintain status quo ante bellum, the company went ahead with the price increase on the said date.
The claimant, however, raised the issue of contempt, accusing MultiChoice of disobeying the tribunal order restraining it from going ahead with the price increase, as well as having penchant for disregard to court order.
On April 11, 2022, after the arguments by counsel for the parties, the tribunal again ordered MultiChoice to revert to the old prices by maintaining status quo of its March 30, 2022 order, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive matter.
But this was all to no avail, as counsel for MultiChoice, Jamiu Agoro, challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the matter, saying the claimant lacked the locus to institute the action.
Agoro argued that the order of the tribunal made on April 11, 2022, asking MultiChoice to revert to old rates was made against a completed act, the firm, having increased its tariffs on April 1, 2022 and that MultiChoice had already configured all its devices for the increase in tariff to take effect before the tribunal made its order.
Agoro added that there was no evidence presented before the tribunal of damage that the claimant had suffered.
The Thomas Okosun-led tribunal, on September 6, 2022, consequently dismissed Onifade’s suit, saying the power to regulate prices of goods and services does not reside in the FCCPC, the regulatory agency, but in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, Onifade has challenged the judgment and is presently before the Court of Appeal in Abuja, contesting that MultiChoice had failed to follow due process of law in accordance with Section 128 of FCCPA, 2018, in its announcement of the price hike on the grounds of short notice given to customers.
