Court orders MultiChoice to pay subscriber N5m for wrongful disconnection

A high court in Lagos state has ordered Multichoice Nigeria Limited to pay N5 million as general damages to a subscriber for the wrongful and wilful disconnection of his cable TV subscription.

In the judgment delivered on September 30, 2025, Razak Olukolu, presiding judge, held that the defendant acted wrongfully by disrupting the claimant’s active television subscription without justification, despite proof of payment.

The suit marked LD/ADR/2297/2019 was instituted by Ben Onuora, the Obi of Okwudor in Imo state, in 2019, seeking N20 million in general damages.

He claimed that he and his family suffered severe inconvenience and emotional distress as a result of the defendant’s incessant disruption of his DStv connection.

Based on the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – Abuse of Dominance Regulations of 2022, and Section 13 of the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency Law, 2015, the court ruled in favour of the claimant.

The judge awarded a N5 million fine against Multichoice Nigeria but refused the claimant’s request for the defendant to pay the cost of the suit.

The court also issued “an order directing the defendant to immediately reconnect and restore the claimant’s cable television subscription and to extend the subscription to cover the entire period of the wrongful disconnection”.

In addition, “interest on the judgment sum of N5 million was granted at the rate of 10 percent per annum until full payment is made”.

FCCPC COMMENDS COURT FOR RULING IN FAVOUR OF CONSUMER

Reacting to the judgment in a statement on Monday, Tunji Bello, executive vice chairman (EVC) and chief executive officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), commended the court for upholding consumer rights in Nigeria.

The statement, signed by Ondaje Ijagwu, FCCPC director of corporate affairs, also referenced a separate judgment of a high court in Enugu state, which declared the “no refund” policy of Peace Mass Transit, a transportation service company, unlawful.

In the suit marked E/514/2021 and filed in 2021, Patrick Chukwuma said he had purchased a ticket from the Obollor-Afor branch of the company to convey him to Enugu on February 10, 2021.

He claimed that after hours of delay caused by the absence of passengers, he had returned to the ticketing office and asked for a refund of the N500 he paid as transport fare.

The plaintiff, however, said the company’s staff denied his request for a refund, citing the organisation’s ‘no refund after payment’ policy.

In a judgment delivered in April 2022, C.O. Ajah, the judge, declared the company’s “no refund policy” as illegal, null and void based on provisions of sections 120, 104, 129 (1) (a) and (b) (iii) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.

Ajah also ordered the defendant to pay the sum of N500,000 as damages to the plaintiff.

FCCPC said the judgments “show the strength of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), 2018, which empowers consumers to seek redress and requires service providers to meet lawful standards of fair service delivery”.

The statement also revealed that the commission facilitated recoveries of more than N10 billion for consumers across 30 sectors between March and August 2025, adding that this is a demonstration of “the growing effectiveness of Nigeria’s consumer protection system”.

According to Bello, consistent judicial enforcement complements the commission’s “regulatory work and reinforces the message that consumer-rights violations attract real consequences”.

The EVC urged consumers to continue reporting unfair practices through the FCCPC complaint portal, email, or any of its offices nationwide.