Nigerian Journal Sustainability Research

Podcaster KaaTruths to Sue Nigerian Telcos and DStv Over Alleged Consumer Rights Violations

2026-08-22
The Threatened Legal Action

An Abuja-based lawyer, Ogba Ogbaga, has announced he's been instructed to institute legal proceedings against MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, 9mobile, and MultiChoice Nigeria (operators of DStv and GOtv) over what he describes as unfair consumer practices tied to expiring data bundles and television subscriptions. In a statement posted to Facebook, Ogbaga said his law firm, GIMBG Legals, received formal instructions from its client, a podcaster known as KAA or "KaaTruths," to challenge the companies' subscription models in court.

What the Suit Would Argue

According to Ogbaga, the proposed case will question whether the telecom operators' and DStv's subscription models comply with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 and other applicable Nigerian consumer protection laws. His core allegation centers on a familiar consumer grievance: that telecom providers sell internet data services that don't always deliver what customers paid for, with subscribers reporting that they sometimes fail to receive full service quality yet still lose their data once the validity period expires, regardless of whether they actually used what they paid for.

He extended a similar argument to DStv, alleging that telecom operators routinely carry out network maintenance and upgrades that temporarily disrupt service without extending customers' subscription periods to compensate, while DStv subscribers separately lose viewing time to power outages and weather-related signal disruptions, again without any corresponding extension or compensation built into the subscription model.

Why He Says the Courts Are the Right Venue

In a separate Facebook post, Ogbaga argued that prior efforts to address these consumer concerns through other channels, policy discussions, town hall meetings, and debates at Nigeria's National Assembly, had failed to produce meaningful resolution, which he framed as the justification for pursuing the matter through litigation instead.

This Fits a Broader Pattern of Consumer Litigation in Nigeria

This threatened lawsuit joins a growing list of legal actions Nigerian consumers and consumer advocates have brought against telecom operators and MultiChoice in recent years, several of which have already produced concrete rulings:

In one Supreme Court case, Anene v. MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, a subscriber successfully sued MTN over repeated unauthorized deductions for a "caller tunes" service he hadn't subscribed to, an issue that once caused his call to drop mid-broadcast during a live radio programme. The trial court awarded him ₦5 million in general damages plus ₦500,000 in costs, with the Supreme Court going on to condemn what it called unethical, unfair, and exploitative practices by telecom operators more broadly, affirming subscribers' rights to service they've actually consented to, transparent information, fair service delivery, and redress when those rights are violated.

Separately, Nigeria's Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal fined MultiChoice ₦150 million for defying a tribunal order that had restrained the company from raising subscription prices without adequate notice, following a suit brought by another Abuja lawyer, Festus Onifade, who argued an 8-day notice period for a price hike was insufficient. The tribunal also ordered MultiChoice to give Nigerian subscribers a free month of DStv and GOtv service as part of that ruling.

In another case, the Lagos High Court awarded ₦5 million in damages to a DStv subscriber, Ben Onuora, after MultiChoice disconnected his active subscription despite verified payment, with the court citing FCCPA provisions guaranteeing quality service and holding suppliers liable for interrupted delivery. MultiChoice has also faced regulatory penalties beyond the courts, including a ₦766 million fine from Nigeria's Data Protection Commission over alleged breaches of subscriber data privacy and unauthorized cross-border data transfers.

What Happens Next

As of the latest reporting, Ogbaga's announcement represents an intention to sue rather than a confirmation that the case has been formally filed, and none of the named companies, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9mobile, or MultiChoice, have yet issued a public response to the specific allegations. Given the pattern of similar recent cases resulting in real financial and regulatory consequences for these companies, this threatened suit adds to a mounting body of Nigerian consumer litigation testing how strictly the FCCPA's protections will be enforced against telecom and pay-TV providers going forward.

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