Angry subscribers disrupt MTN Maitama operations over SIM card disconnection

It was a very chaotic situation on Monday at the MTN office in Maitama, Abuja, as hundreds of subscribers whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards were disconnected over the weekend besieged the office to get their lines reconnected.

While only a few were allowed into the premises, hundreds were kept outside the MTN office while one of the security men was writing down the names and giving numbers to all the subscribers who came to update and reactivate their SIMs.

However, the situation became highly tense following the snail’s pace with which the entire process was moving, making some angry subscribers start hitting and banging on the gate, warning that should MTN fail to attend to them, the planned protest will start in their premises.

This brought activities at the MTN office to an abrupt halt, while some of the staff of the mobile operator were seen peeping through the windows and looking a bit scared.

Suddenly, more people joined them in banging, trying to push down the gate of the MTN office and throwing stones into the premises, not minding the presence of some policemen.

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As the atmosphere became charged, the subscribers began singing and chanting, “All we are saying, unblock our lines,” and in less than 20 minutes, more policemen were drafted to the scene, followed by trucks of armed military personnel.

The subscribers despised the heavy security presence, remained unperturbed, and insisted that they would not leave the MTN office until their SIMs were unblocked.

Speaking with The Guardian, one of the affected subscribers, HyeladIara Mbaya, who noted that he has been using the MTN line for over 17 years, said, “The first time they asked us to link our SIMs to NIN, I did that. I have lost my phone three times, and I did a welcome pack. After that, they asked for revalidation, and I did, but out of nowhere, they blocked my line without notification. Why? This is wrong. They should reconnect our lines. I feel bad, and I feel sorry for this country. This is a digital world; why are we going back to analogue? Why can’t they digitise it so that people can do it from the comfort of their homes or offices instead of wasting man-hours here without achieving results?”

A Corps member who simply described herself as Olamide told The Guardian that despite linking her SIM with the NIN, she woke up on Sunday to discover that her line had been blocked.

She said, “They barred my SIM yesterday. I woke up only to discover that I have been barred. I have been here since 8 am, and I have not been able to do anything. This is very wrong. I feel terribly bad. I am supposed to be at my place of primary assignment, but I took permission from the office. Still, I haven’t done it. They would have sent notifications to subscribers, giving them at least 7 days. It is more painful because I linked my SIM with the NIN a long time ago, and I received a message that it was successful. I don’t know why they blocked my SIM. Let them unblock my SIM so that I can make calls and send messages.”

Another subscriber, Mrs. Amos, told The Guardian that she woke up to make an important call to the village only to discover that her MTN SIM had been disconnected.

“MTN has been notifying me each time I want to make a call, so I took time to submit my NIN through the notification they sent. I have wasted the whole day; I have been standing since morning, and still, I haven’t been able to do it. It is not wrong for them to update our SIMs, but they should have done it in batches,” she added.

However, a man who refused to introduce himself told The Guardian that “MTN is not the problem.”

He alleged that the problem “is from NCC and NIMC. There is a government hand in this. Do you know how much MTN has lost between Saturday and today? They have lost millions of Naira. The hand of the government is 99 percent involved; the only thing was that they used MTN. It is an order from above.”

Another told The Guardian, “This is very simple. We are in a digital world; everybody has NIN. The banks and even NIMC have our biometrics, our BVN, names, and pictures. They have our details, so why can’t MTN harmonise the data instead of dragging us to this place? Why are they frustrating Nigerians?”