A rights campaigner, Olukoya Ogungbeje has filed a N10 billion suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos against telecommunications companies in Nigeria, challenging the recent barring of phone lines.
Joined as responders to the suit are the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc.
Other respondents are Airtel Networks Nigeria Ltd. Globacom Ltd and Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd (EMTS 9 Mobile).
Ogungbeje claims the sum of N10 billion against the telecom companies as damages for their “unlawful” restrictions on phone lines.
According to a NAN report, the applicant in his affidavit said the respondents had threatened to bar or deactivate the mobile lines of Nigerians not linked with their National Identification Number (NIN).
Ogungbeje said he proceeded to court and obtained an order on Feb. 22, restraining the respondents from barring or deactivating the phone lines of Nigerians, pending the determination of the suit.
However, he discovered that on Feb. 28 that his mobile lines and some Nigerians, had been barred by the respondents in defiance of a “subsisting court order.”
Ogungbaje argued that the respondents being a creation of law, are subject to the court of law and its judicial powers, and are under an obligation to obey same.
The applicant also wants an order directing the respondents to immediately unlock and unrestricted the phone lines of affected Nigerians.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the new suit.
Meanwhile, NCC had called on telecommunications subscribers who have linked their SIM cards to their National Identification Numbers (NINs) but are still experiencing network disruptions to visit the outlets of their service providers to validate their NINs and resolve other issues.
The NCC spokesman, Reuben Muoka, who made this call on Monday, said some of the NINs submitted by the subscribers were not verified by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the agency responsible for issuing NINs.
Muoka, who spoke on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme, said some of the NINs had verification and identification issues, such as disparity in information, names, and other data, which did not match with what the customers registered with their SIM cards.
Muoke said the NCC had directed the telecom service providers to bar subscribers who have failed to link their phone numbers to their NINs on or before February 28, 2024, as part of the federal government’s efforts to tackle security challenges and create a digital identity database for Nigerians.
