and Osasuyi Adebayo, have commenced contempt
proceedings against the Managing Director of
MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, Mr. John Ugbe, for
allegedly violating a court order.
Ugbe, alongside the Public Relations Manager of the
company, Caroline Oghuma, is liable to being jailed if
found guilty of the allegation.
The lawyers had, on April 2, 2015, secured a court
order of interim injunction restraining MultiChoice
from giving effect to its proposed 20 per cent
increment on subscription fee on the Digital Satellite
Television (DStv) being operated by it.
Justice C.J. Aneke of a Federal High Court in Lagos,
who made the interim order, had held that the order
would subsist till the determination of a lawsuit
contesting the legality of MultiChoice's newly-
introduced subscription rates on DStv.
However, at the resumed hearing on Thursday, one
of the plaintiffs, Oyeniyi, informed the court that in
spite of the court order, MultiChoice had not stopped
its new rates, which had commenced from April 1.
"My Lord, whether wrongly or rightly, on the 2nd of
April, your Lordship made an order that is bound to
be obeyed. We filed a further affidavit citing the
defendants for contempt of court,"
Oyeniyi said.
In their motion on notice, served on the defendants
along with Forms 48 and 49, the lawyers attached as
exhibits copies of receipts issued by MultiChoice to
certain subscribers reflecting payment of the new
subscription rate of N13, 980 rather than the old rate
of N11, 650 in spite of the court order.
"It is in the interest of justice to grant this application
and empower the honourable court as the place of
last resort to the plaintiffs in preserving the dignity of
the court," the plaintiffs pleaded as they urged the
court to make an order of committal against Ugbe
and Oghuma.
The other prayer contained in their motion on notice
was for the court to order MultiChoice to make a
refund of all excess charges to all customers who
had subscribed to the new rate in the face of the
subsisting court order.
The plaintiffs also asked for an order mandating
MultiChoice to tender a full page public apology in
four national newspapers including The Punch,
ThisDay, The Guardian and The Sun, to all
subscribers for violating the court order.
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