Ayotunde Ajijola, a resident of Lagos State, has narrated how Airtel, a telecommunications service provider, reassigned his 22-year old subscriber identification module (SIM) card to another customer a day after he was attacked and robbed of his phone.

Ajijola, who works with an electricity company, explained to FIJ on Friday that on December 3, some unidentified men attacked him while stuck in traffic at Fagba junction and dispossessed him of two phones and other items.

He further said the despoilers recharged his line with N1,100 airtime and stole N100,000 from his bank account after the incident, and there were SMS notifications for both transactions on the same line.

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He also told FIJ that the first action he took after the incident was to place a call through to the telecoms company via its customer care line and spoke with an agent who helped him to block the line to forestall any further damages.

“Some guys attacked me on December 3 and forcefully took my phone from me,” he said. “They ran away after collecting my phone. I had not even regrouped my mind when I called Airtel’s customer helpline, and an agent whose name I can’t remember again blocked the line for me.”

He told FIJ that he became a bit settled after the line was blocked and hoped to approach the company to retrieve his SIM card, which he had been using since 2001.

“I went to Airtel’s office in Ogba for a SIM retrieval on December 4. I never thought anything would prevent me from doing the retrieval that day,” he said.

“The staffer that attended to me made me understand that the line was registered in one Emeka’s name and I would be unable to retrieve it. I couldn’t believe it.

“I was confused. This was a line I registered in 2001 and had linked all my personal data to as demanded by the country’s laws. My efforts to reclaim the line have proved abortive.

“However, I insisted that I had been in possession of the line since 2001 and the appearance of Emeka’s identity in this episode was questionable.”

AIRTEL RESPONDS

Ajijola said he resorted to sending emails to the company after his effort in Ogba could not fetch him the desired result.

“I have sent a series of emails to Airtel since their Ogba office told me they could not do anything for me,” he said.

“In an email response sent to me on December 20, they asked me to provide the SIM pack of the affected line. But I told them it had long been destroyed.

“This request to produce the SIM pack reminded me of the ugly phase in my life when I had an auto accident in 2019. I lost many things to the accident. I lost 12cm of my tibia bone, my car, the sim pack and many other valuables.

“Meanwhile, I had done welcome-backs on the line many times without being asked to produce the SIM pack, including after getting on my feet from surgeries.

Ajibola expressed disbelief when a man who identified as David Abidakun informed him via an email that “investigation on the Airtel number shows no revenue generating activity (calls, SMS or recharge) within the period of 365 days,” adding that the line had been “churned and recycled”.

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“I was told on December 22 that the line had been reallocated because they did not notice any revenue-generating activity on it in 365 days. However, I cannot believe this information at all; it appears sketchy.

“Before I was robbed on that day, I made many incoming and outgoing calls on the line.

“SMS notifications for the fraud conducted on the line by the thieves were also sent to the line. So, how is it now possible that there was no activity on it? This is not clear at all.”

“I have also informed the police at the Ilupeju Divisional Police Station of the attack and obtained a written report dated December 4, 2022.

“The police are also working on the case of robbery.

“Similarly, I have obtained a court affidavit to detail my situation. I have submitted the affidavit to Airtel at their Ogba office for necessary action.”

“I WANT A FORENSIC AUDIT OF THE LINE”

Speaking further, he said, “I want my line back. This is the same I have been conducting my life with since 2001. I carry out transactions on it daily and depriving me of it under questionable circumstances, when I didn’t use to commit any crime, is unfair.

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“As it is now, only a forensic audit of the line can reveal the true picture of the event, and that is what I expect Airtel to do. The audit should cover the period from 2001 to December 3.”

At press time, Airtel had not responded to FIJ’s email sent to it on Saturday.