A Lagos Lawyer, Tope Alabi has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss MTN Nigeria’s suit against the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC claiming that the suit is an abuse of court process.
Alabi insisted that the N1.04trillion fine imposed on MTN was in order because the telecoms company has no reasonable case against NCC.
Alabi who in an application seeking to be joined as an interested party said that granting MTN relief will amount to “people breaking one law and hiding under another law to escape liability.”
He said “The first defendant (NCC) gave time limit for all subscribers to register their SIM cards. The time limit was also extended repeatedly. The plaintiff was in default to register 5,200,000 subscribers
“The plaintiff could register all the 5,200,000 subscribers SIMs in default within the time limit and extended time given by the first defendant. I believe other service providers such as Airtel, GLO, Etisalat, Starcomm strictly complied with the first defendant’s directives without defaulting; except the plaintiff.
“The plaintiff never denied it defaulted in registration of the 5,200,000 subscribers. The fine imposed on the plaintiff by the first defendant is in order. The suit of the plaintiff with reliefs sought therein will encourage a culture of impunity in Nigeria.
“The law under which the plaintiff is subjected to liability is justice-able and valid. It is in the interest of justice to grant this application for the applicant to defend this suit within the purview of the law.”
He warned the court that any ruling in favour of MTN will create a culture of impunity in Nigeria “whereby people would do all kinds of illegal and unlawful acts and get away with it so long as they can secure legal service to escape liability.”
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