Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a former military governor of Kaduna State is gearing up to go to court over deductions being made from his account for services he did not subscribe to by leading Nigeria GSM telephony service provider, MTN
The retired soldier said he decided to embark on the legal option after MTN failed to stop sending unsolicited messages asking to subscribe to different services and going ahead to deduct money for the services even though he usually refused the offers.
Umar said he has briefed his lawyers to file the suit against MTN after complaining over unsolicited messages and deductions to no avail.
He said despite assurances that it will not happen again, he has started receiving unsolicited messages accompanied by deductions of money from his telephone line.
The retired Major forwarded two of the latest unsolicited messages he received Saturday : One susbscribed him to a callertune with a charge of N50, with an option to opt out; the other subscribed him to a package ‘Laugh Out Loud’ also with a fee.
Umar said his anger was not about the N50 being deducted from his account, but the fraudulent act of taking money from subscribers without their consent by the telecommunications companies for services they did not subscribe to.
According to him, if the N50 being deducted for the unsolicited services is multiplied by 70milion subscribers, for example, it means the network is stealing billions of Naira from subscribers on a daily basis.
Umar said he is suing MTN on behalf of 70million subscribers and he believes the subscribers will be his witnesses in court.
“I have briefed my lawyers” said Umar who added that all attempts to reach the telecoms industry regulator, NCC have failed.