Comedian Julius Agwu sues Etisalat for N100m over blocked line

Comedian Julius Agwu has dragged telecoms giant Etisalat to court for
blocking his business line. He is demanding for N100million as
compensation forjobs lost, contact lost, for the inconveniences, and
for being mistreated by Etisalat staff. Below is a statement from his
lawyer, Festus Keyamo...
We are solicitors to Mr. Julius Agwu, one of Nigeria's most sought
after entertainers (hereinafter referred to as "our client") and on
whose behalf we write.
Our client is the owner of the Etisalat GSM phone number 08189555555,
which he uses as his business line. On the 8th of October, 2013, our
client travelled out of the country and returned on the 17th of the
same month. Upon his return, he tried severally to make calls from the
aforestated GSM line but same could not connect. Not only could he not
make calls, he also could not receive calls on the said GSM line. This
continued for some days until he got a message that his line had been
blocked by the network provider.
Sequel to the above message, our client promptly visited your Abuja
office at Hilton to report the matter. He was attended to by one Miss
Joan, who informed him that somebody swapped his line. After our
client successfully answered the security questions put to him, he was
informed that his line had been restored, but the credit balance on
the line was not returned.
Surprisingly, our client's aforestated line was blocked again after he
left your said Abuja office. Once again our client visited your office
at the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Ikeja,
Lagos to lodge a complaint, but painfully, nothing was done about it.
However, after sometime, our client was invited for a meeting at your
head office in Lagos on the 14th of November, 2013 which he duly
honoured. Present at the meeting (in addition to the officials of your
organization) was Mr. Mobolaji Okusaga, the Managing Director of The
Quadrant Company, in his capacity as media agents/managers for
Etisalat Nigeria.
At the end of the meeting, our client was told for the umpteenth time
that they would get back to him, which they again failed to do.
LOSS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
It cannot be over emphasized that your actions of unlawfully blocking
and/or swapping our client's line occasioned loss of business
opportunities to him. As you are aware, our client as one of the most
sought after Nigerian entertainers needs his phone line to be easily
accessible to keep his business going. It therefore goes without
saying that our client has lost some business opportunities as a
result of your actions.
TAKE NOTICE that we have our client's firm instruction to demand and
hereby demand the sum of N100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira)
as compensation for the loss of business opportunities and the
inconvenience caused our client by reason of your unlawful and
unjustified blocking and/or swapping of our client's Etisalat GSM
phone line.
TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that in the event that you fail, refuse or neglect
to accede to our above stated demand within seven (7) days from the
receipt of this letter, we shall be compelled to set in motion against
you, all legal machineries necessary to obtain legal remedy for our
client.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.