The Managing Director and CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, along with three senior executives, have been accused of dodging lawful summonses issued by Nigeria’s competition regulator, FCCPC.
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) informed the Federal High Court in Abuja that repeated attempts to serve Toriola and the others with court documents had been deliberately thwarted.
Representing the commission, legal counsel Nsitem Chizenum stated: “We have made several efforts and we equally used the bailiff of this court to serve them, but it seems they were evading service, my lord.”
The FCCPC had filed a two-count charge against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Toriola, Chief Corporate Services Officer Tobechukwu Okigbo, and Regulatory Affairs General Manager Ikenna Ikeme.
The charge (FHC/ABJ/CR/354/2024), dated 19 July 2024 and filed three days later, alleges deliberate failure to comply with a lawful request for documents during an ongoing investigation. It also accuses the executives of obstructing regulations to probe MTN’s compliance.
None of the defendants appeared in court. No lawyer represented them either. According to Chizenum, the FCCPC has now involved the Nigeria Police to help ensure the accused are brought before the court. The judge, Justice Hauwa Yilwa, has set 25 September 2024 as the new date for arraignment.
The first count accuses the defendants of failing to produce documents requested via a formal summons on 17 May 2024. A follow-up extension, granted by the commission on 5 June, was also ignored.
The second count states that by refusing to respond to statutory notices, the defendants obstructed the FCCPC’s ongoing inquiry, an offence under Sections 33(3) and 111(1) of the FCCPC Act, 2018.
This is not Toriola’s only brush with regulatory accusations. Earlier this year, in a separate case, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) dragged MTN and its CEO into another courtroom drama.
The commission alleges that between 2010 and 2017, MTN unlawfully used copyrighted music by Nigerian artist Maleke Moye as caller tunes without the artist’s permission.
Others named in that case include MTN executive Nkeakam Abhulimen, Fun Mobile Ltd, and its CEO Yahaya Maibe. That case is still pending before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
