THE controversy trailing the removal of Justice Ayo Isa Salami as President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) may be far from over as the Special Task Force (STF) set up by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to investigate MTN’s alleged manipulation of the judge’s call log yesterday interrogated top officials of the telecommunications giant.
The Guardian learnt that the probe was the fourth session between the Ahmadu Ali-led team at the Force Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja.
In a petition to the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, earlier this year, entitled, “MTN’s Dangerous Corporate Conduct,” former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, alleged that MTN ‘doctored’ the call data records it forwarded to the National Judicial Council (NJC) through the security agencies.
Oyinlola prayed the Minister to compel the IGP to investigate why MTN allegedly manipulated the call data records as the alleged act has security implications.
He cited two numbers, 08062240104 (registered in the name of Gbadegesin Ademola) and 08034240000 (registered in the name of Tunde Folawiyo, Lagos State Governor) as being key to unraveling the alleged interactions between Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN] officials and Salami.
While being grilled over Oyinlola’s petition, MTN officials claimed the company gave out several SIM cards to the Lagos State Government a long time ago and provided the Police with photographs of supposed current users of the telephone lines.
However, in additional information to his initial statement to the Police, the former governor’s Principal Witness, Mr. Adeolu Oyinlola, claimed that MTN was being economical with the truth.
He insisted that it was the fact of the telephone interactions between and among ACN chiefs, its lawyers, Salami and his bosom friend, Tunji Ijaiya, which MTN desperately tried to cover up from the NJC’s Special Investigative Panel, that led it (MTN) to manipulate the call data records it transmitted to the panel, through the security agencies.
Both numbers, Mr. Adeolu Oyinlola claims, belong to Bola Tinubu; one registered in the name of the ACN leader’s aide, Gbadegesin Ademola, while the other is registered in the name of Tunde Folawiyo who is a Director at MTN.
The Police, The Guardian learnt have asked MTN to produce the documents (driver’s licence, utility bill, crossed cheque, passport photos) it collected from the supposed owners of the two controversial lines; prior to accepting them on the telecoms company’s post-paid platform. Also, the Nigerian Communications Commission has reportedly been served with a court order to release the biometric data of the owners of the two lines.
However, the investigation took a dramatic twist yesterday as officials of MTN admitted that the phone number which they earlier claimed belonged to one “Tunde Folawiyo Governor of Lagos state “is owned by Former Lagos State Governor and ACN leader, Tinubu while the second number identified as one of the callers of Salami and his friend Tunji Ijaya also belonged to one Gbadegesin Ademola identified as Personal Assistant to Tinubu.
The MTN officials are said not yet to have justified why the numbers were registered in names of persons other than the real user, which Oyinlola’s team interpreted as attempt by the communications company to cover up the identity of the real subscribers. The investigators had earlier been told by MTN officials that the line attributed to Tinubu was owned by one Abdusalam Rashed.
The police investigation being conducted by the STF under the IGP was sequel to a petition by the former governor to the police for the investigation of allegations of false evidence given by MTN officials before the NJC panel, which disowned the call logs presented to the panel as not authentic.
Based on this testimony, the NJC absolved Salami and the other justices on the election tribunal of any ethical breach. The call logs disowned by MTN were said to have been sourced from Area G police command in Lagos. Prince Oyinlola and former Ekiti Segun Governor Segun Oni alleged that MTN was acting out a script to pervert the course of justice.
A Police source disclosed that the Police had obtained a court order compelling MTN to produce all the documents used in registering the phone lines of several persons fingered in the call logs saga and backed with a warrant of arrest.
Also the MTN official who testified before the NJC (one Rotimi Odusola) is also facing charge of perjury for allegedly giving false evidence in his affidavit before the court. He had recanted and admitted that the call logs were provided to the Area G police Commander by the Company.
The MTN official who had claimed in his statement on oath that its system could not accommodate more than three months call records was confronted with call data records provided by his company which spanned five months, prompting him to plead that the situation could only be explained by its technical officials.
No comments:
Post a Comment