The Federal Government will arraign Adewunmi Ogunsanya, Chairman of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, and John Ugbe, the company’s Managing Director/CEO, alongside six other top officials, on October 7.
The defendants are accused of breaching the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
The charges include failure to comply with a lawful summons and impeding investigation by refusing to produce documents.
“The defendants were alleged to have failed to appear before FCCPC in compliance with a lawful summons… and thereby committed an offence,” the charge sheet reads.
The case was adjourned due to improper service of court documents, and the judge fixed October 7 for the defendants to take their plea. The FCCPC had summoned MultiChoice to provide explanations for its recent price hike, raising concerns over potential market dominance abuse and anti-competitive practices.
The FCCPC had directed MultiChoice’s CEO to appear for an investigative hearing, warning that failure to justify the price adjustment would lead to regulatory sanctions. MultiChoice had filed a suit seeking to stop FCCPC from taking administrative action, but the court dismissed the suit, holding that it was an abuse of court process.
