BEVERLY HILLS, CA, July 09, (THEWILL) –Â A member representing Borno State in the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, Wednesday, shocked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, when he alleged that his telephone which has been in the custody of the court is being used to call his new phone numbers.
Senator Ndume, who is accused of allegedly sponsoring the Boko Haram insurgency, made the allegation through his lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN) as he told the presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, of the strange development when his trial came up before the court.
But the trial judge expressed shock, saying : “I don’t know much about technology. 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 witness 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.”
Ndume, who said that he was compelled to seek clarification from MTN on the strange development, said he had already complained to the service provider that he had been receiving strange calls from his previous number 08035998045 which is in the custody of the Federal High Court where he is standing trial for alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram insurgency.
Ndume said the first call to his new number , used the same old number in the court’s custody at 9:56am on June 13 which cut off after a few seconds.
“Then I got the second call from my former number 0803……… which is supposed to be in the custody of the Federal High Court at 9:58am which also went off after a few seconds,” he said.
Ndume said he was again called by 0803…….. at 10:07 am “and when I asked who was speaking, the caller said he was George. He asked me whether I got his text message and I said no.”
The Senator said the line went off after he told the caller that he did not get any sms.
Excerpt from the letter Ndume sent to MTN over the matter, dated June 13 read: “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. (3) the IMEI number of the phone used.”
Senator Ndume attached a copy of the calls log given to him by MTN. The calls‎ log showed that the strange calls emanated from Abuja.
It would be recalled that Ndume was arraigned on a four counts charge bordering on terrorism after he was implicated by one Ali Konduga, said to be a former spokesperson for Boko Haram.
Konduga had since been convicted and sentenced.
