Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday granted the All Progressives Congress (APC) an ex-parte order restraining the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and five telecommunications firms from suspending its presidential campaign fund-raising SMS scheme.
The judge through the interim injunction also barred Etisalat, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Visafone from giving effect to the directive from NCC which ordered them to stop running the campaign fund-raising platform.
Specifically, the court ordered the telecoms firms “to continue to run, operate and/or restore to its full operative use the SMS Code platform 35350 created for fund-raising for the applicant’s presidential campaign.”
According to Justice Buba the orders are to subsist pending the hearing and determination of APC’s originating motion on notice.
He also granted the party leave to serve the originating motion on notice and other processes on NCC (the first defendant) outside the court’s jurisdiction.
In the main suit filed by APC’s counsel, Kola Awodein (SAN), the party is demanding the sum of N25 billion as damages for the alleged banning of its presidential campaign fund-raising scheme by the NCC and inhibiting its financial capacity to prosecute its presidential campaign towards the February 14 election.
Joined with the NCC as respondents in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/16/15 are Etisalat, MTN Nigeria Limited, Globacom Limited, Airtel Nigeria and Visafone Communications Limited.
The party is urging the court to declare the NCC’s directive as “unconstitutional, illegal, null, void and of no effect” arguing that the NCC acted ultra vires when it gave such directive. against the provisions of sections 39 and 42 of the Nigerian Constitution.
In an 18-paragragh affidavit attached to the suit and deposed to by one Ademola Sodiq, the APC accused the NCC of instructing the 2nd to 6th respondents to discontinue an SMS platform it created for the purpose of getting donations from willing members of the public for its presidential campaign.
According to Sodiq, the participatory fund-raising strategy was for members of the public to contribute N100 to the APC’s presidential campaign fund each time they sent APC as an SMS to 35350. Leadership
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