Court to rule on NNPCL’s objection to Dangote Refinery Suit

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a hearing on the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) preliminary objection to a complaint brought by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE over an oil import licence issue on March 18.

Justice Ekwo set the date after Ademola Abimbola, SAN, counsel for the NNPCL, and John Ibrahim, SAN, lawyer for Dangote Refinery, presented their reasons and adopted their processes for and against the complaint.

Justice Ekwo set Wednesday for the hearing of the NNPCL’s preliminary objection after Ibrahim informed the court that they had yet to file their response to the case.

At the resumed hearing, Abimbola notified the court that their objection was set for hearing, and they were prepared to continue.

Ibrahim stated that they had submitted a counter-affidavit in opposition to the objection and that he was ready to advance their application as well.

Moving the application, Abimbola stated that their notice of preliminary objection, dated and submitted on November 15, 2024, sought an order dismissing the claim for lack of jurisdiction, or, alternatively, an order striking out the company’s name from the suit.

He stated that an affidavit and a written address were in support of the application.

According to the lawyer, after receiving the refinery’s counter-affidavit, they filed a response affidavit as well as a reply on points of law on February 3.

He asked the court to either dismiss the suit or remove the name of the NNPCL from it.

In response, Ibrahim stated that a five-paragraph rebuttal affidavit dated January 31 was filed, along with a written address.

He embraced the procedures and urged the court to dismiss the NNPCL’s preliminary objection as superfluous.

After hearing the parties, Justice Inyang Ekwo delayed the case until March 18 for a verdict.