Comedian Julius Agwu has dragged telecoms giant Etisalat to court for blocking his business line. He is demanding fo
r 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.
