SALAMI: Force Hqtrs grills MTN officials over call logs for 5 hours

ABUJA — Authorities of the Police Special Task Force investigating the case of perjury and alleged perversion of justice against communication giant, MTN, over Justice Ayo Salami’s telephone interaction with ACN leaders in the Osun and Ekiti tribunal judgments saga, have uncovered alleged deceit of the communication firm in the matter following MTN’s admittance, Tuesday, that the phone number which they earlier claimed belonged to one ‘Tunde Folawiyo’ is owned by former Lagos State governor and ACN leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Vanguardgathered that a new round of investigation into alleged conspiracy by Justice Salami prior to the judgment in the Osun and Ekiti states governorship elections petitions was sequel to a petition to the Inspector General of Police by former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola which the IG tasked the CP Ali Amodu-led Special Task Force to investigate.

…Justice Salami

In the petition entitled ‘A Case of Perjury Against Mr. Rotimi Odusola, Senior Manager, Commercial Legal, MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd’, Oyinlola requested the police to investigate allegations of false evidence by MTN officials before the National Judicial Council, NJC,  panel which initially disowned the ‘Call Logs’ presented to the panel as not authentic.

Confronted with Oyinlola’s petition, MTN officials claimed the company gave out several SIM cards to the Lagos State Government a long time ago and provided the Police with photographs of supposed current users of the telephone lines.

However, while providing additional information to the Police, Oyinlola’s principal witness, Mr. Adeolu Oyinlola, claimed that MTN was being economical with the truth.

He stated categorically that it was the fact of the telephonic interactions between and among Action Congress of Nigeria chieftains, its lawyers, Justice Ayo Salami and his bosom friend, Tunji Ijaiya, which MTN desperately tried to cover up from the National Judicial Council’s Special Investigative Panel, that led it (MTN) to manipulate the call data records it transmitted to the panel, through the law enforcement and security agencies.

Both numbers, Mr. Adeolu Oyinlola claimed, belong to Bola Tinubu; one registered in the name of the ACN leader’s aide, Gbadegesin Ademola, while the other is registered in the name of Tunde Folawiyo, who is a Director at MTN.

Consequently, it was gathered that the Police have asked MTN to produce the documents (driver’s license, utility bill, crossed cheque, passport photos) it collected from the supposed owners of the two controversial lines, prior to accepting them on the telecoms company’s post-paid platform.

Also, the Nigerian Communications Commission has reportedly been served with a court order to release the biometric data of the owners of the two lines.

It would be recalled that following the testimony of the communication giants, NJC absolved Salami and the other justices of the election tribunal of any ethical breach. The call logs disowned by the MTN were allegedly sourced from Area G Police Command in Lagos, during investigation, making former Governors Oyinlola and Segun Oni to suspect that the MTN was acting a script to pervert the course of justice.

Officials quizzed for about 5 hrs

The telecoms officials, who were quizzed for about five hours by the police, Tuesday, at Force Headquarters and later released on bail, according to sources, tried in vain to convince detectives why the numbers were registered in the names of persons other than the real user, but this was interpreted as a ploy by the communication company to cover up the identity of the real subscribers.

It would be recalled that Police investigators had earlier been told by MTN officials that a second line said to belong to Tinubu was owned by one Abdusalam Rasheed.

Meanwhile, Police sources told Vanguard that the MTN official who initially testified before the National Judicial Council Panel,  one Rotimi Odusola who is also facing allegation of perjury for giving false evidence in his affidavit before the court, recanted, Tuesday, and admitted that the call logs were provided to the Area ‘G’ Police Commander by the company.

Odusola had initially claimed in his statement on oath that MTN’s systems could not accommodate more than three months call records but when confronted with call data records from his company, showing that such records of up to a period spanning five months can be accessed, he resorted to pleadings, saying the situation could only be explained by the technical officials of the company.