The Federal High Court in Abuja has shifted the arraignment of Mr. Karl Toriola, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, to October 30.
Toriola and three other executives are being prosecuted by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) over alleged violations of the commission’s Act.
The case could not proceed on Thursday as the presiding judge, Justice Hauwa Yilwa, was unavoidably absent due to another official engagement. The matter was consequently adjourned until October 30 for the defendants to enter their plea.
The FCCPC had filed charges against MTN Nigeria and Toriola as the 1st and 2nd defendants. Also joined in the case are Mr. Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, and Mr. Ikenna Ikeme, the company’s General Manager, Regulatory Affairs, as the 3rd and 4th defendants respectively.
In the two-count charge, the defendants are accused of failing to produce documents and information requested by the FCCPC, in defiance of a lawful summons issued by the commission. The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/354/2024, was dated July 19, 2024, and filed three days later by a team of lawyers led by Akoji Achimugu.
At the last sitting, FCCPC counsel, Nsitem Chizenum, alleged that the MTN executives had been evading service of court documents. He explained that multiple attempts to serve the defendants were unsuccessful, prompting the involvement of the Nigeria Police Force to ensure compliance.
Earlier, the matter had been slated for May 28 for the defendants’ plea, but none of them appeared in court on that date.
In count one, MTN Nigeria, Toriola, Okigbo, and Ikeme are alleged to have, on or about June 18, 2024, failed without sufficient cause to produce documents and information required in compliance with a lawful summons and request to produce dated May 17, 2024.
The commission further claimed that compliance with the summons was extended by a letter dated June 5, 2024, but the defendants still failed to respond.
The offence, according to prosecutors, is contrary to Section 33 (3) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018, and punishable under Section 111 (2) of the same Act.