NJC PROBE: GROUP WARNS MTN OVER ALLEGED COVER-UP PLANS
The Society for Rule of Law in Nigeria (SRLN) a non-governmental organization has warned the MTN to play its role in support of justice in the ongoing investigation being carried out by the Probe Panel set up by National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate allegations of unethical behaviours against the Appeal Court President, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, six other appeal court justices, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawyers and some chieftains of the party.
The group said the telecoms company's refusal to make available all the Call Detail Records (CDR), even when Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat made available all theirs was enough to cast a doubt in the minds of Nigerians, who are desirous of the sanitisation of the judiciary.
Reacting to claim by Justice Salami that his MTN phone number was “hacked” to call chieftains of the ACN, SRLN said in a statement issued in Abuja by its Coordinator, Comrade Chima Ubeku that; “the MTN must come out to tell Nigerians and indeed the entire world if in truth, its numbers can be hacked.”
“From what we read in the papers today, the onus is now on MTN to tell the public how secured its subscribers are. The telecoms company must clear the air on whether or not its numbers are prone to hackers.
“This is because apart from the need to assist the NJC Panel in arriving at a just verdict, the MTN also owes its millions of subscribers the duty to assure them of the security of their transactions on the network.
“Though MTN has said it once that its numbers cannot be cloned, but since Justice Salami has raised it again, there is need to clear the air once again so that MTN will not only be seen as playing its social responsibility roles, but also allaying the fears of its subscribers,”
the group said.
While warning the MTN not to allow itself to be used as a cog in the wheels of justice, SRLN said; “What is at stake is the integrity of our justice system and by extension the nation as a whole, and no individual or corporate organisation operating in Nigeria must be allowed to hold us to ransom.”
“Therefore, having first failed Nigerians by not making available the entire call logs requested by the NJC panel, the MTN now has the opportunity of redeeming its image by coming out boldly to say the truth on the alleged hacking of its numbers.”