Nigeria’s telecoms regulator, National Communication Commission (NCC) and five telcos will pay the All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition in the country’s coming general elections, up to N500 million ($2.5 million) in damages.
This is coming after a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos pronounced ultra vires, the regulator’s termination of the mobile crowdfunding platform launched by the party earlier in the campaign season.
“The directive by the NCC to the telecoms firms is hereby struck out having been made without power and in contravention of the fundamental rights of the applicant (APC),” media reports quote Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Lagos Federal High Court.
The 5 telcos, Etisalat, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Visafone, who subsequently stopped the premium SMS platform which powered the fundraising will now join the telco in paying the fine.
