Dangote Petroleum Refinery has withdrawn a lawsuit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to cancel oil import licences granted to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and several private marketers by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The refinery, through its lawyer Ogwu Onoja (SAN), submitted a notice of discontinuance without providing any reason.
The notice read, “Take notice that the plaintiff herein discontinues this suit against the defendants forthwith.”
Earlier, Dangote Refinery had asked the court to declare that NMDPRA violated Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing the licences despite local refining capacity.
It claimed such licences should only be granted when there is a supply shortfall and accused the Authority of failing to promote local refining.
The company sued NMDPRA, NNPCL, and five oil marketers, seeking ₦100 billion in damages.
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In response, AYM Shafa, A. A. Rano, and Matrix Petroleum opposed the suit, arguing that Dangote sought a monopoly.
They warned that this would hurt pricing, threaten energy security, and give the refinery excessive control over supply.
NMDPRA also countered, saying the refinery lacked the capacity to meet Nigeria’s needs and that licences were granted lawfully to address the gap.
It denied claims of conspiracy and maintained that import diversification prevents monopolies.
NNPCL, represented by Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), filed a preliminary objection, claiming it was misidentified and that the suit was incompetent. Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed the objection and allowed Dangote to correct the error.
The case had been fixed for hearing on September 29 before Justice Mohammed Umar before the withdrawal was filed.