The radical former Military Governor of old Kaduna State and pro-democracy fundamentalist, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd), has officially written a protest letter to Nigerian telecommunication giant, Globacom, over illegal deduction of funds from his phone account.
In a letter written on his behalf by his lawyer, Osa Director Esq., the Harvard-trained political scientist stated that he has noticed with utter consternation and disdain the consistently regular but illegal deduction of fund from his phone payment
The letter reads: “We are Solicitors to Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Retd), a former Military Governor of Old Kaduna State, herein after known as our client and on whose behalf we write you this letter.
“Our client is a subscriber to your Glo Network. He has two lines on your network. However, our client has noticed with utter consternation and disdain your consistently regular but illegal deductions of funds from his account. The reason for such illegal deductions is as a result of your unsolicited and bogus claim of his subscriptions to your numerous offers.
“On a daily basis you deduct a certain amount of money from his two lines for allegedly subscribing to your 577 Wiki Tips and Jokes Tips services. For instance, on 20th and 27th March, 2018, you made three to four deductions of N100 (one hundred naira) each from his lines on account of his “subscription” to 577 services. These unwholesome practices have been going for quite a while unabated.
“Let it be stated that our client could like most other subscribers gloss over such regular illegal deductions. However, his commitment to the principle of transparency, accountability and best practices shall not allow him to paper over such underhand cut and malpractices.
“Also in the interest of millions of subscribers to your network, who are probably vulnerable and weak to the point of being voiceless, our client is demanding that you put a stop forthwith such crass economic exploitation and manipulation of your subscribers. This attitude becomes even more offensive when you multiply N400 daily by 100 million subscribers. That is a colossal amount of N4billion daily taken away from innocent and unsuspecting subscribers.
“This demand by our client is not motivated by any material interest. Therefore, we shall not be asking for any monetary compensation for the inconvenience and rude embarrassment caused to our client by your actions.
“However, we demand on behalf of our client, that you stop outright such illegal deductions and also tender an unreserved written apology to our client. The cessation of such illegal deductions should not be limited to our client alone, as we also demand that you stop such deductions from your numerous subscribers, some of whom are friends and associates of our client.
“It is pertinent to let you know that our client has the phone numbers of these friends and associates. We shall be cross-checking with them to find out if you have done the needful.
The letter dated 29th March, 2018 urged Glo to “TAKE NOTICE that failure to so do within 14 days from the date above-written, we shall commence legal actions against you. Take this letter as a pre-action notice.”