Salami: IGP begins fresh investigation •Takes custody of authentic call logs •Oyinlola makes statement •MTN, Salami, NJC to be summoned

THE office of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, on Wednesday afternoon, took custody of the call logs of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal,

Justice Isa Ayo Salami and others which were released by communications firm, MTN Nigeria Ltd, to the Area "G" Command Headquarters, Ogba, Lagos State, as fresh probe deepens in the alleged manipulation of call data of those fingered in the  alleged unethical communications between jurists and politicians in the determination of Osun and Ekiti state governorship appeals.

Responding to a suit brought against it by former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the Osun and Ekiti state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), MTN had confessed that the call logs, which the National Judicial Council (NJC) probe panel rejected, querying its authenticity before clearing Salami and other jurists fingered in the alleged unethical communications, were released by it to the said command.

Nigerian Tribune can reveal that the fresh probe, which was at the instance of Oyinlola and the PDP, led to the police boss taking over the investigation and demanding for the call logs authenticated by MTN.

A top source disclosed that Mr Abdullahi D. Ishola of the Ogba command, last Tuesday, released the said call logs to the officers dispatched by the IGP from Abuja to Lagos, who eventually returned with the documents on Wednesday evening.

The names of the officers who made the Lagos trip were given as Umar Babangida and Musa Idi.

Oyinlola, in a petition entitled: "MTN's dangerous corporate conduct," had complained about the security implications of MTN's alleged fiddling with the call data records it earlier released to security agencies for transmission to the NJC's probe panel, with the IGP reportedly taking direct charge of the probe and said to have directed Mr Peter Gana to coordinate the investigation.

Though MTN had claimed that its storage capacity was three months, the call data in possession of the police top hierarchy covered five months, with MTN already indicating that it released them.

It was further learnt that Oyinlola had made a statement to the police on Friday, March 13, while summons were reportedly being packaged for other interested parties, including Salami, NJC and MTN, to make statements.

A source disclosed that the summons might materialise next week.

In the statement made to the police, Oyinlola accused MTN of doctoring call data records of telephone subscriber numbers: 08034004887, 08035955287, 08034010700, 08033333469, 08038305298, 08035605656, 08034303333, 08034301111, 08034030263, 08034020700, 08033235280, 08034301122, 08033246788, 08037643770 and 08033340330.

The former governor of Osun State also wanted the IGP to cause MTN to reveal the SIM registration details of subscriber numbers: 08034240000", registered in the name of Tunde Folawiyo (Lagos State governor) and 08062240104 (registered in the name of Gbadegesin Ademola).

Oyinlola claimed that contrary to MTN's claim that its system was only capable of holding three months of history call data, what the telecoms firm released to Area G Command, Ogba, Lagos, in respect of Justice Salami's call data record covered five calendar months, adding that his witness, Adeolu Oyinlola, obtained his own call data record from the same MTN which covered three months and nine days.

With the recent confirmation of the genuineness of the call logs from the said command, it was gathered that Oyinlola and PDP were preparing perjury case against the telecommunications firm.

Source...
http://tribune.com