Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned till March 18 for ruling on preliminary objection filed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in a suit by Dangote Refinery against the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and five oil companies over the issuance of petroleum product import licences.

Moving the preliminary objection, yesterday, counsel for the NNPCL, Abimbola Ademola, SAN, prayed the court for an order striking out the suit filed by Dangote Refinery for lack of jurisdiction or, in the alternative, strike out NNPCL from the suit.

In his response to the preliminary objection, counsel for the plaintiff, George Ibrahim, SAN, said the plaintiff filed five paragraphs of an affidavit and a written address urging the court to dismiss the preliminary objection by NNPCL for being unnecessary.

Ibrahim also prayed the court to allow the plaintiff’s application seeking to amend its suit.

After the parties adopted their written submissions on the issues, the trial Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned till March 18, 2025, for ruling.

Dangote Refinery had sued NMDPRA, NNPCL, AYM Shafa Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited as first to seventh defendants, respectively in the originating summons, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, dated September 6, 2024.

The oil company prayed the court to nullify import licences issued by NMDPRA to the NNPCL and the five other companies to import refined petroleum products.

The company (plaintiff) also prayed the court to declare that NMDPRA violated Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing licences for the importation of petroleum products, stating that, such licences should only be issued in circumstances where there was a petroleum product shortfall.