The Supreme Court has upheld a 2016 judgement of Justice Ishaq Bello, the then Chief Judge of the FCT High Court which found as illegal, deductions made by MTN Service provider for unsolicited Caller tunes.
Since the FCT High Court judgement the matter has travelled on appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2018 and now to the Supreme Court.
At the Court of Appeal the general damages of N5,000,000 (Five million Naira) and cost of Action of N500,000 awarded to the plaintiff by the trial Court were reduced to N400,000 and N100,000 respectively.
Now the Supreme Court has reversed the Court below and restored the award of the trial court.
In a Lead Judgement by Hon. Justice Mohammed Baba Idris, the apex Court found the reduction of the general damages and cost of action as arbitrary and not backed up by any principle of law.
In one of the concoring judgements Justice Helen Moronkeji Ogunwumiju stated that “It is obvious that while the learned trial Judge appreciated the rights of consumers to be protected and properly recompensed for damage done to them by service providers, the court below did not.”
