Claims of forgery trails petition over 2.3GHz spectrum
By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
PETITIONS purportedly written to Information and Communications Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili over the licensing of 2.3GHz spectrum may have been forged, industry operators have alleged.
The 2.3 GHz licensing, by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has been trailed by controversy since some petitions on their method of sale apparently prompted the minister to order the cancellation of the exercise for what she termed "lack of transparency and due process."
But a twist emerged at the weekend over the 2.3GHz frequency bidding when A3&O Ltd, the company said to have petitioned Akunyili over the bidding, said it did not author any petition and that the said document may have been forged.
The minister had on May 6, 2009, received a petition purportedly written by Messrs A3&O Ltd, two days to the close of the bid, protesting the short notice given for the bidding, and also alleging that only those who had prior information from the commission, would be able to raise the required amount within the stipulated time.
On the basis of the said petition, the minister had written the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Ernest Ndukwe, demanding explanations, which later culminated in her directive on the cancellation of the licensing process.
But chairman of A3 & O Limited, Mr. Wale Adeyinka, who spoke to The Guardian in Lagos at the weekend, raised an alarm over the authenticity of the said petition as his company neither applied for the frequency, nor has any intention to apply in the future since it is not an operating company.
Adeyinka, who said he came across some publications which mentioned the name of his company as authors of the petition, challenged authorities to prove that the said petition emanated from his company.
"Some of the companies that applied are our clients. How can we then petition against a process that our clients are already involved in?
"I have never petitioned anybody in my life and I will not start with Ndukwe to whom I have great respect for what he has done for this country", he said. He therefore called for an investigation over the matter to determine how the Ministry received the said letter.
Besides, it was discovered that while the RC Number on the petition to Akunyili is RC 600743, a further check at the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja revealed that this RC number belongs to a construction company, Lapeng Integrated Nig Ltd while RC number of Adeyinka's A3&O Ltd is RC45355, registered at the Commission with Mr. Wale Adeyinka as chairman and registered address as 14, Kayode Abraham, Street, VI, Lagos.
The purported petition to the Minister also bears an operating address given as 2nd Floor, Nurses House, 43, AfriBank Street, Victoria Island, Lagos but when The Guardian visited the Nurses House at Afribank Street, there was no sign of the company operating from the building. Security men at the building also denied knowledge of the company as none of its signposts mounted in the building indicated its existence.
Yet another issue is that each of the three pages of the petition to the Minister has the letter-head of the computer generated letterhead. The letterhead of the company which wrote the petition also appeared on each page of the petition, contrary to normal practice.
Galaxy Wireless Ltd, one of the bidding companies, which participated in the licensing process, had publicly denied petitioning the Presidency or the Minister of Information and Communications over the licensing round.
The company, in a statement signed by the manager, media relations of the company, Joy Idoko reiterated that it would not be making any further statements on the issue, because the matter had been referred to its solicitors.
The company added that it was a responsible corporate citizen made up of experienced professionals committed to the deployment of tech solutions to communication challenges.
Sources close to the minister said the petition, which was also copied to the President, was authentic as far as the minister was concerned.
