Thousands of MTN users besieged the company’s Idi-Ape office in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo, and Lagos State on Monday, protesting the sudden blockage of their Subscriber Identification Modules.
The situation intensified when the telecom company blocked users’ phone numbers due to NIN-SIM linkage issues without prior warning.
Trending videos circulating online show crowds of frustrated customers sending MTN staff members home in response to the disruption.
A tweet by Oyo Affairs, using the @Oyoaffairs handle, showed thousands stranded at the Idi-Ape office.
Ogbeni Adefila (@OgbeniHadephila) commented, “If you are concerned about your SIM block, protest is never a remedy. Get yourselves together as an entity and take up a Class Action against the service providers. Sue them and get right.”
Another MTN SIM user, OluwaLoba (@iamtobzz), lamented, “This Idi-Ape MTN office is choked o.”
Razqee (@showband007) added that some MTN users who had registered and linked their SIMs with their NIN still experienced service interruptions.
“A friend of mine has his MTN SIM registered and with NIN verified written on his MTN app, so blocking him again,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, a subscriber named Jamal Kolade faulted the protesters, arguing that the service provider had issued warnings about the SIM blocks for unlinked National Identification Numbers.
His tweet read, “What do you mean by prior warning? Do you know since when they’ve been telling people to link their NIN to their SIM?”
Similarly, a user codenamed Abcone @WORLDWIDEFINAN5, said, “My MTN line was blocked on Saturday. Meanwhile, the service provider has been sending notices; if you don’t have the right information, you should have done your findings. This is unnecessary and unacceptable at this crucial moment in our country.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.