Senator
Mohammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno South), who is standing trial over
allegation that he is a sponsor of the Boko Haram sect, yesterday
stunned a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja when he claimed that his
old mobile phone number, which has been in the custody of the court for
about a year, has been making repeated calls to his new line.
Ndume, who spoke through his lawyer, Mr Rickey Tarfa (SAN), told
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the strange development during his trial on
Wednesday.
A visibly shocked Justice kolawole said, “I don’t know much about
technology but how can a phone that is switched off be able to receive
and make calls? I think you should go to MTN for clarification and also
confer with the prosecution counsel to know what to do”.
“Really, it is strange to me that a phone line that is not active can be used to make calls”.
The senator said he was compelled to seek clarification from his network service provider.
In a letter to MTN communications, Ndume said he complained that he
had been receiving strange calls from his previous number 08035998045.
According to him, the first call to his new number was 9:56am on 13th June 2014 which ended after a few seconds.
“Then I got the second call from my former number 08035998045 which
is supposed to be in the custody of the Federal High Court at 9:58am
which also went off after few seconds”.
He said he was again called by the number at 10:07 am and when he
requested to know who was on the other end, the caller identified
himself as George.
“He asked me whether I got his text message and I said no”, Ndume added.
His letter to MTN reads: “When I tried to call back, I got the voice
message that, ‘the number you are trying to call is not available at the
moment please try again later.’ “I Immediately called MTN customer care
centre using 180 and I was connected to one Juwairah Muktar, after
lodging my complaint, she asked me to hold on, so that she could talk to
her team leader Sybil Uwake.
“She subsequently got back to me and advised that I should report the case to the nearest police station.
“I accordingly reported the case at Apo Police Station where I was made to write a formal complaint.
“In view of this and the fact that I am currently standing trial at
the Federal High Court in connection with the use of my phone and the
seriousness of the case, I wish to request for the following
information: (1) My call data record for 13th June, 2014, (2)
Identification of the caller and the location where the call originated;
and (3) the IMEI number of the phone used”.
The case has been adjourned till November 11. 2014.
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