FCT High Court Dismisses NGO’s Frivolous Suit Against NUPRC’s Gbenga Komolafe, Fines N9M
On July 18, 2025, Justice H. Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court struck out a lawsuit against Engineer Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), filed by the Registered Trustees of Trust Field Empowerment Initiatives.
The NGO sought to compel the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (HAGF) to prosecute Komolafe within 30 days over unsubstantiated allegations related to oil block awards and signature bonuses, in a case marked FCT/HC/GAR/CV/128/2025. The HAGF and NUPRC were named as the first and third defendants, respectively.
The defendants, represented by Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), Oladele Gbadeyan, and Chief Chiesonu Okpoko (SAN) for the HAGF, Komolafe, and NUPRC, respectively, challenged the FCT High Court’s jurisdiction, citing Section 251(1)(a)(n) of the 1999 Constitution.
This section grants exclusive jurisdiction to the Federal High Court for matters involving government revenue, mines, minerals, oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys, and natural gas. The defendants also sought N100 million in damages, arguing the suit was “frivolous and vexatious” and intended to “harass, intimidate and ridicule” Komolafe.
Justice Muazu upheld the jurisdictional objection, dismissing the suit as frivolous and incompetent. He awarded N3 million in costs to each defendant – totaling N9 million – against Trust Field Empowerment Initiatives for filing the baseless lawsuit.
