A former military governor of Kaduna State, Rtd. Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, is to sue the telecommunications giant, MTN, over unsolicited messages being sent to customers, and the fraudulent deductions from their accounts.
Speaking on Saturday, Umar said he briefed his lawyers to file the suit against MTN after he had complained to no avail over the problem, and despite assurances by the company that the practices will stop.
To prove his point, the former governor forwarded two of the latest unsolicited messages he received on Saturday, one of which subscribed him to a callertune with a charge of N50, with an option to opt out; and the to a package ‘Laugh Out Loud,’ also with a fee.
The first of Saturday’s messages he received reads: ““Yello, you have downloaded the Callertune <CHECK YOUR ALERT> by TK SWAG for N50.00. This tune expires on 2016-12-09. To delete the tune, send del0733736”
The second said: “Dear Customer, you have successfully subscribed to Laugh Out Loud and N50.00 deducted from your account. Your service will be renewed on 2016-11-18. To cancel, text STOP LOL to 55006. Enjoy!”
Umar stressed that the issue is not the N50 being deducted from his account, but that the practice has continued despite complaints.
He said it was fraudulent to deduct money from subscribers’ accounts without their consent, noting that if N50 is deducted from 70 million accounts, for instance, the tally is N3.5billion.
As a result, Umar said his suit against MTN will be on behalf of its 70million subscribers, and expressed the faith that the subscribers will be his witnesses in court.
