Etisalat Replies Julius Agwu's N100m Suit, Deny Blocking His Line

Telecommunication giant, Etisalat Nigeria, has reacted to Julius Agwu’s seven day ultimatum to the company that it should compensate him with the sum of N100 million or risk legal action over “alleged unlawful and unjustified blocking and/or swapping” of his Etisalat GSM phone number 08189555555.

Agwu demanded the compensation through his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, due to what he termed lost of business opportunities and the inconvenience experienced by him during the period.

Keyamo in a letter dated 26 November, 2013 to the company stated that “in the event that you fail, refuse or neglect to accede to our above stated demand within seven (7) days from the receipt of this letter, we shall be compelled to set in motion against you, all legal machineries necessary to obtain legal remedy for our client.”

The letter further stated that the company’s actions of unlawfully blocking and/or swapping of Agwu’s line occasioned loss of business opportunities for him.

Etisalat’s Public Relations Manager, Chineze Amanfo, while reacting to the allegation through an email sent to our reporter, stated that contrary to the reportage of the issue on the blogs and news sites, a SIM swap was performed on the said line after the requester provided the company’s customer care executives with necessary SIM replacement information, in accordance with laid down NCC regulations and process for SIM swap.

She added that the SIM replacement information includes security and personal requirements to the owner, which the requester provided before the swap was effected.

“Subsequently, upon a report made at our office by Mr. Agwu that he is the owner of the line and did not authorize anyone to swap it, our customer care executives promptly restored the line as well as the airtime lost during the swap process.

“Etisalat Nigeria is currently carrying out an internal investigation into the SIM swap incident and will refer the matter to the appropriate agencies for further investigation as may be necessary.

“We wish to assure the general public that Etisalat Nigeria is committed to the protection of the rights of its subscribers and to continue to provide value adding services to its customers.

“We will spare no effort to unravel the circumstances surrounding the alleged unauthorized SIM swap while encouraging our customers and the general public to protect their personal information at all times,” she stated.