The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) is set to arraign MultiChoice Nigeria Limited owners of DSTv and GoTv, its Chief Executive Officer, John Ugbe, and several company directors for allegedly obstructing a lawful investigation and failing to honour official summons related to the company’s operations and pricing structure.
According to a charge sheet marked FHC/ABJ/CR/197/2025—filed by the FCCPC legal team led by Nsitem Chizenum—the Pay TV giant and its top executives are accused of impeding regulatory oversight and refusing to produce key documents requested during an official probe.
This development follows the Federal High Court’s May 8, 2025, ruling, which dismissed a lawsuit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria seeking to affirm its recent DStv and GOtv price hikes. The court labelled the suit as an “abuse of court process.”
Charges Filed
In the court documents, John Ugbe, Gozie Onumonu, Adewunmi Ogunsanya, and five others are listed as defendants. The FCCPC alleges that the accused failed, without sufficient cause, to appear before the Commission on March 6, 2025, in response to a lawful summons dated February 25, 2025.
Furthermore, the Commission claims that the defendants, all directors of MultiChoice Nigeria, deliberately refused to produce required documents—thereby obstructing an ongoing investigation. This action, the FCCPC states, constitutes an offence under Section 3 of the FCCPC Act, 2018.
Court Proceedings
At the resumed session on Tuesday, FCCPC’s counsel informed Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that while MultiChoice had been served, the other defendants had not yet received personal service of the charges. Consequently, Justice Omotosho adjourned the arraignment to October 7, 2025.
This follows earlier proceedings where Justice Omotosho ruled that MultiChoice’s suit against the FCCPC was frivolous and amounted to a procedural abuse. Notably, in the same legal tussle, the court had once issued an interim order restraining the FCCPC from taking any punitive steps against MultiChoice following its announcement of subscription fee increases.
Regulatory Concerns
The FCCPC had previously raised alarms over the company’s recurring price hikes, warning of potential abuse of market dominance and anti-competitive behavior in Nigeria’s pay-TV industry. The Commission summoned MultiChoice’s CEO for a hearing on February 27, 2025, demanding justification for the price adjustments.
Despite this, MultiChoice’s legal team—led by SAN Onigbanjo—filed for an injunction against the FCCPC on March 3, 2025, alleging denial of fair hearing. That case has now been dismissed.
The looming arraignment marks a significant chapter in the regulatory standoff between Nigeria’s competition watchdog and one of the nation’s leading entertainment service providers.