Comedian Julius Agwu has dragged telecoms giant Etisalat
to court for blocking his business line. He is demanding for
N100million as compensation for jobs lost, contact lost, for
the inconveniences, and for being mistreated by Etisalat
staff. Below is a statement from his lawyer, Festus
Keyamo...
We are solicitors to Mr. Julius Agwu, one of Nigeria's
most sought after entertainers (hereinafter referred to
as "our client") and on whose behalf we write.
Our client is the owner of the Etisalat GSM phone
number 08189555555, which he uses as his business
line. On the 8th of October, 2013, our client travelled
out of the country and returned on the 17th of the
same month. Upon his return, he tried severally to
make calls from the aforestated GSM line but same
could not connect. Not only could he not make calls,
he also could not receive calls on the said GSM line.
This continued for some days until he got a message
that his line had been blocked by the network
provider.
Sequel to the above message, our client promptly visited
your Abuja office at Hilton to report the matter. He was
attended to by one Miss Joan, who informed him that
somebody swapped his line. After our client successfully
answered the security questions put to him, he was
informed that his line had been restored, but the credit
balance on the line was not returned.
Surprisingly, our client's aforestated line was blocked
again after he left your said Abuja office. Once again our
client visited your office at the local wing of the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport Ikeja, Lagos to lodge a
complaint, but painfully, nothing was done about it.
However, after sometime, our client was invited for a
meeting at your head office in Lagos on the 14th of
November, 2013 which he duly honoured. Present at the
meeting (in addition to the officials of your organization)
was Mr. Mobolaji Okusaga, the Managing Director of The
Quadrant Company, in his capacity as media agents/
managers for Etisalat Nigeria.
At the end of the meeting, our client was told for the
umpteenth time that they would get back to him, which they
again failed to do.
LOSS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
It cannot be over emphasized that your actions of
unlawfully blocking and/or swapping our client's line
occasioned loss of business opportunities to him. As you
are aware, our client as one of the most sought after
Nigerian entertainers needs his phone line to be easily
accessible to keep his business going. It therefore goes
without saying that our client has lost some business
opportunities as a result of your actions.
TAKE NOTICE that we have our client's firm instruction to
demand and hereby demand the sum of N100,000,000.00
(One Hundred Million Naira) as compensation for the loss
of business opportunities and the inconvenience caused
our client by reason of your unlawful and unjustified
blocking and/or swapping of our client's Etisalat GSM
phone line.
TAKE FURTHER NOTICE 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.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
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