After its Chairman, Adewunmi Ogunsanya, and other top officials of the company failed to appear before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, MultiChoice has hurriedly slashed DStv decoder price.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports MultiChoice slashed its HD Zapper DStv decoder price by 50% from N20,000 to N10,000 with its premium DStv Explora decoder now at N223,999.
In a statement by MultiChoice Nigeria’s CEO, John Ugbe, the company said it will also be offering its customers a free upgrade to the next DStv package tier when they pay their current subscription in full from June 16 to July 31, 2025.
According to Ugbe, the upgrade is automatic for all active and returning subscribers who renew their subscriptions during the promo period, while claiming that the initiative was its response “to the noticeable economic impact on the everyday lives of Nigerians.”
However, TNG observed that this is coming after Ogunsanya, Ugbe and six other top officials of the pay-Tv company failed to appear before Justice Omotosho over allegations bordering on breach of Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
When the matter was called at the Abuja Federal High Court on Tuesday, none of the defendants was in court, citing improper service of court documents, including the hearing notice.
The prosecuting agency’s lawyer, Chizenum Nsitem, who is counsel to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), then sought an adjournment date to enable FCCPC arraign the defendants and for the defendants to take their plea.
Justice Omotosho subsequently fixed October 7 2025 to arraign Ogunsanya and Ugbe, along with Fhulufhelo Badugela, CEO of MultiChoice Africa Holdings; Retiel Tromp, Chief Financial Officer, Africa; and Keabetswe Modimoeng, Group Executive for Corporate Affairs.
Others to be arraigned also include a director, Adebusola Bello; Fuad Ogunsanya; Gozie Onumonu, who is the Head Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations, and the company itself.
In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/197/2025, the defendants were preferred with seven counts. While MultiChoice Nigeria Limited is the 1st defendant, Ogunsanya, Ugbe, Badugela, Tromp, Modimoeng, Bello, Fuad Ogunsanya and Onumonu are 2nd to 9th defendants respectively.
In count one, Multichoice Nigeria Limited was alleged to have on March 6 at No 23, Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja, without sufficient reason failed to appear before the FCCPC in compliance with a lawful summons issued on Feb. 25, “and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 33 (3) of the FCCP Act, 2018”.
In court six, Ogunsanya, Ugbe and others, being directors of the company, were alleged to have on March 6 “caused MultiChoice Nigeria Limited to impede investigation of the FCCPC by refusing to produce documents and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 110 of the FCCP Act, 2018”.
Recall that MultiChoice, the operator of DStv and Gotv, recently increased the subscription rates on its packages against an invitation by FCCPC to give explanation on why the company wanted to effect a price hike.
Justice Omotosho had, on May 8, dismissed the suit filed by MultiChoice seeking to stop FCCPC from taking administrative action against the company.
The judge, in a judgment, held that the suit, following an ex-parte motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/379/2025, was an abuse of court process, having been filed after a similar suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/363/2025, was filed on the issue by a lawyer, Festus Onifade, with Multichoice and FCCPC as parties in the suit.
The FCCPC had summoned MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd to provide explanations regarding the March 1 price review of its packages.
The commission directed the company’s chief executive officer to appear for an investigative hearing on Feb. 27, raising concerns over frequent price hikes, potential market dominance abuse and anti-competitive practices within the pay-TV industry.
The FCCPC also issued a stern warning, stating that failure to justify the price adjustment or comply with fair market principles would lead to regulatory sanctions.
However in the suit filed by MultiChoice’s legal team, the company sought an order of injunction restraining the regulatory commission and its officers from carrying out the threat against it, as communicated via a letter dated March 3.
Nevertheless, Multichoice went on to implement tariffs hike for DStv and GOtv, following the May 8 ruling of the Federal High Court, presided over Justice Omotosho.