A lawyer, Mr. Bennett Igbani, has sued MTN Nigeria Communications Limited at the Federal High Court in Lagos for N200milion for allegedly compromising his mobile line.
In an amended statement of claim filed on Mr. Igbani’s behalf before a Federal High Court in Lagos by Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo, the UK-based lawyer claimed that he had been using his SIM card with the number 08067251116 for over eight years.
Igbani, a PhD student, said he roamed his line while abroad, but it became inoperative, adding that he noticed that his e-mail account had been hacked into by a third-party using his MTN number.
The lawyer said his bank also informed him that a lady named Nora who claimed to be his younger sister called with the line asking to withdraw N5million from Igbani’s account because he needed urgent medical attention overseas.
The plaintiff said he had no sister named Nora, nor was he sick, adding that the line was linked to all his six bank accounts.
Mr. Igbani averred further that after the attempted fraud on his account, he petitioned the Nigerian Police, stating that his number was reclaimed by a third-party through MTN and the third-party had access to his PhD thesis and deleted vital documents, thereby causing him serious setback in his academic pursuit.
The plaintiff said MTN informed him that the line had been reclaimed by another user, but did not disclose his particulars.
Filing the suit through his lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, Igbani said he was kept incommunicado for over five months, lost business opportunities, suffered psychological stress, financial loss, and infringement on his privacy.
For these, Mr. Igbani is seeking the sum of N200 million as damages.
He is also seeking an order of the court mandating the MTN to return his number to him and restrain the company from further tampering with his with his number.
The case has been adjourned until September 23 for hearing.