The Ekiti State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has petitioned the MTN group over its alleged complicity in the case involving the party, former president of the Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Salami and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
In a letter addressed to the Group President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN, Mr. R. S. Dabengwa, and signed by the State Chairman of the PDP, Bola Olu-Ojo, the party condemned what it alleged was the ignoble role MTN Nigeria played in the case.
The letter reads in part: “We write to draw the attention to the ignoble role a member of the MTN group, MTN Nigeria recently played in a cover up of judicial malfeasance, thereby obstructing the course of justice. The Ekiti and Osun State chapters of the PDP early this year complained to the National Judicial Council (NJC) on the telephone interactions between the now suspended president of the Appeal Court, Justice Salami and some chieftains of the ACN during the pendency of election petition cases heard by the court. There was strong suspicion that the interactions may have influenced the outcome of the judgement.
“Based on the strength of our suspicion, we approached the NJC with a request that the security agencies be caused to carry out investigations into the circumstances that brought about the outcomes from the appellate court. MTN Nigeria was one of the networks on whose platform the interactions were made.
“The NJC set up an investigative panel, which invited all the mobile telecommunication service providers in Nigeria to submit required information that would assist the panel’s investigation. MTN Nigeria not only refused to honour the invitation but also refused to present the call data records covering the period relevant to the investigation.
“Furthermore, MTN was economical with the truth when it informed the panel that their network’s capacity to receive call data records was limited to a period of nine months when, in fact, it had previously provided data records to the national security adviser (NSA) spanning a period of nine months.
“On the last day of the panel’s sitting, MTN Nigeria, which scuffled an invitation to appear earlier, suddenly surfaced at the request of Justice Salami who is at the centre of the investigations.
“We therefore call for a thorough investigation of this breach of good corporate values so that the entire MTN Group does not slip in the high estimation in which it is held by Nigerians.”
