Telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria Limited, has gone before a Federal High Court in Lagos to challenge the $3.9bn imposed on it by the Nigeria Communications Commission for failure to disconnect its unregistered subscribers.

The company, which filed the suit through its legal team comprising Chief Wole Olanipekun, Tanimola Molajo, A.B. Mahmoud, Dr. Gbolahan Elias, Oladipo Okpeseyi, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu and Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria, is urging the court to quash the $3.9bn imposed on it.

Joined as a co-defendant with NCC is the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Among other things, the plaintiff is urging the court to determine whether NCC can act pursuant to Section 70 of the NCC Act to impose a fine on it in view of the provisions of sections 1 (3), 4 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution.

It argued that by imposing a fine on it, the commission was already usurping “the exclusive legislative powers of the National Assembly, as well as the judicial powers of the courts established under the constitution.

” The plaintiff claimed that it was not afforded its constitutional right of fair hearing before a court of competent jurisdiction and insisted that it had not been found guilty of any offence to warrant the fine of $3.9bn imposed on it.

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http://www.punchng.com/mtn-sues-ncc-over-3-9bn-fine-2/

A plaza near the popular Wuse Market in the Federal Capital Territory is currently on fire, it has been gathered.

Reports reaching The PUNCH indicate that firefighters have been called and are currently battling to put out the fire. An eyewitness said the fire was currently limited to one of the floors in the plaza, adding that officials of the National Emergency Management Authority and the fire service were on the ground.

The witness, who lives close to the building, said a truck load of goods had been offloaded at the plaza on Saturday. The cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained.

More to follow…

http://www.punchng.com/plaza-near-abujas-wuse-market-on-fire/

Tragedy was on Saturday averted when a tanker carrying about 22,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol was gutted by fire along the busy Sapele road, in Benin, the Edo State capital.

It was learnt that the tanker was discharging products at an Oando filling station when the incident occurred at about 2pm. The fire was said to have started from one of the rare tires of the vehicle.

It was learnt that the driver, in an attempt to prevent the truck from being destroyed by the fire, tried to drive the tanker, marked AGB 87 ZD, out of the filling station but could not, as the fire quickly spread to other parts of the tanker.

He was said to have sustained a minor burn in one of his arms in the process. Fire fighters from the Edo State Fire Service, were said to have battled for several hours to prevent the fire from spreading to other vehicles and properties, in the adjoining streets.

When our correspondent got to the scene, officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps were seen managing the heavy gridlock that had resulted from the incident.

A trader close to the filling station, told our correspondent that many residents in the area took out their properties for the fear that the fire Might spread. He also commended the driver for successfully locking some other outlets through which the petroleum product would have come out, spreading the fire.

Another eyewitness, who gave his name as Dave, said “It was the driver who drove the vehicle out of the station that saved all these houses, including the filling station.

He locked all the pipes even when the fire was burning.” The driver, who identified himself as Aisedo, said the fire started from the pit when he was discharging the fuel. He also noted that he brought the product from Warri, in Delta State.

Aisedo said, “Fire came out from the ground and I don’t know how it happened. I ran into my truck and tried to take the tanker away. I have already discharged a compartment. If I had help, the fire would not have occurred.” The manager of the filling station, Mr. Friday Umweni, said over N2m worth of PMS was lost to the fire, adding that he was yet to be briefed on what caused the fire.

When contacted, the state Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Oluwasusi Familoni, said that he was yet to get details of the incident, as of the time of filing the report.

http://www.punchng.com/driver-escapes-death-as-fire-guts-petrol-tanker/

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has defended its action to reduce the N1.04 trillion fine on MTN Nigeria to N780 billion, saying it acted in the interest of the stability of the telecom sector.

The commission said it weighed all pros and cons and arrived at a decision it considered favourable to all concerned. Director public Affairs of the NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo, said that after considering the operator’s admission of guilt, huge investment in the country, the large subscriber base and Nigeria being its largest market, the decision to arrive at the reduction was not too difficult.

According to Ojobo, “MTN wrote the commission, acknowledged that there has been an infraction and are now pleading for leniency . In the past we have also had people plead for leniency on their sanctions. At that time, of course the NCC board has not been constituted, no Minister, the authority of the president was required for such a decision to be taken in the absence of the minister, and so the commission had to notify the presidency.

“The stakeholders looked at it with all the pros and cons and reduced the fine by 25 percent. We are aware and conscious of the level of investment MTN has made in this market; they have the largest number of subscribers, it is also important to know that Nigeria remains their biggest market. We have taken all into considerations, and that was what even informed the discussion in the first place.
Weighing all of these issues, is why this action has been taken”.

The controversy surrounding the unprecedented One trillion, four hundred million Naira fine the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, slammed on MTN Nigeria for allegedly not being able to disconnect about 5.1 million improperly registered subscribers on its network, appeared settled Thursday, last week, when the regulator reduced the fine by 25 percent.

Although the telecommunications company, alleged that the commission conveyed the message to them in a conflicting manner, with two letters bearing conflicting figures, the Commission has since admitted that the first letter bearing 35 percent reduction was in error and therefore should be discarded while the second, bearing 25 percent should be regarded as the authentic.

According to Ojobo, “there was a mistake in figure of the first letter which immediately prompted the second one. “The actual decision is that the Commission, has after due considerations of MTN’s consistent pleas and admission of guilt, among other factors, decided to reduce the fine by 25 percent”. With the explanation, the commission says it expected MTN Nigeria to perfectly understand without any ambiguity that the fine has been reduced to N780 billion Naira of which it has not more than December 31, 2015 to settle.

The telecommunications company on its part has promised to study the new development while directing its Executive Chairman, Mr Phutma Nlekho to urgently engage the Nigerian government with a view to getting resolutions that would prompt its official response.

However, the commission’s decision to reduce the fine and the figure at which it arrived at, have also elicited reactions from the Nigerian public. Although, notable Information technology practitioners have refrained from making comments on the whole issue. Those who Vanguard sought their opinion on the issue pleaded to be left out of the debate, saying the sensitive nature of the fine makes industry players opinion very implicating.

wheredemdey:


You guys hv not yet answered my question....

I know of some guys working in remote areas.....men in eket...warri etc ...men that their wives are far from them...people that thief wives live abroad...they skype with their wives....and mastubate to her erotic displays and dirty talking....pray tell..is that a sin too??

wheredemdey:


You guys hv not yet answered my question....

I know of some guys working in remote areas.....men in eket...warri etc ...men that their wives are far from them...people that thief wives live abroad...they skype with their wives....and mastubate to her erotic displays and dirty talking....pray tell..is that a sin too??

A Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, on Wednesday sentenced two persons, Lucky Obesewe, 32, and David John, 41, to six years imprisonment each for tampering with electrical installations of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company located around Lucky Way, Ikpoba Hill, Benin City.

The cable vandals who were sentenced to six years imprisonment each without option of fine by the Edo State division of the Federal High Court, have been standing trial for unlawfully tampering with electrical installations of BEDC since February this year under an act punishable under the malicious offences act, M17 Vol 9 laws of Nigeria.

As it were, Lucky Obesewe and David John were dragged to the Federal High Court by the State Criminal Investigation and intelligence department on three counts even though their terms of jail will run concurrently.

http://punchng.com/cour-jails-two-12-years-for-cable-theft/