BREAKING: Court strikes out NNPCL’s bid to dismiss Dangote Refinery’s N100 billion import license suit

Justice Inyang Ekwo passed the ruling after hearing oral submissions from the legal teams of Dangote Refinery, NNPCL, and other parties involved.

Naijaonpoint previously reported that, during court proceedings on January 30, 2025, NNPCL’s lawyer, Ademola Abimbola, SAN, opposed the refinery’s request to amend its court filings.

Naijaonpoint previously reported that Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE filed a suit seeking to void import licenses issued to NNPCL, Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and four other companies for importing refined petroleum products.

Dangote Refinery’s suit claims that the continued importation of petroleum products persists “despite the production of AGO and Jet-A1 that exceeds the current daily consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria by the Dangote Refinery.”   

They argued that only NMDPRA and NNPCL are legally empowered to determine petroleum product shortfalls in Nigeria, not Dangote Refinery.

Meanwhile, NNPCL’s counsel, Ademola Abimbola, SAN, filed a preliminary objection, arguing that the plaintiff erroneously sued “Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation,” a non-existent entity, instead of the correctly registered “Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.”

Abimbola further urged the court to rule that Dangote Refinery has no legal standing to institute this suit.

In its counter-affidavit and written address filed on Friday, and seen by Naijaonpoint, George Ibrahim argued that a close examination of the originating summons, affidavit, and attached documents clearly shows that the plaintiff’s grievance concerns the “flagrant disobedience of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by a statutory body created to implement the Act.”   

He urged the court to reject NNPCL’s claim that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate the implementation of a Backward Integration Policy by NMDPRA.

“The NNPCL is merely a busybody and a meddlesome interloper, and its arguments on this issue should be disregarded,” he submitted.

At the hearing in February 2025,  Abimbola urged the judge to affirm his objection and strike out the refinery’s suit for lack of jurisdiction.

After hearing submissions from both sides, the judge fixed today for ruling.

“I make an order striking out the preliminary objection of the NNPCL,” Ekwo ruled.

The judge said NNPCL does not suffer any miscarriage of justice if Dangote Refinery amends its suit.

On Dangote Refinery’s application to amend its suit to properly cite the name of the NNPCL, Ekwo said the refinery’s amendment suit is grantable.

On Dangote Refinery’s application to amend its suit to properly cite the name of the NNPCL, Ekwo said the refinery’s amendment suit is grantable.

He subsequently approved the amendment of the refinery’s suit and directed Ibrahim to serve the amendment suit on the parties.

What You Should Know 

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, had previously expressed willingness to sell his multibillion-dollar refinery to NNPCL amid escalating disputes with regulators and equity partners.

Dangote had also accused other importers of bringing substandard petroleum products into Nigeria.

Naijaonpoint reported that the federal government later permitted marketers to purchase petroleum products directly from Dangote Refinery, following NNPCL’s decision to withdraw as an intermediary between the refinery and marketers.