Has the Commandment against stealing in the Bible and other Holy Books of the world’s major religions been annulled? Or has the cynical challenge now fashionable in our country that anyone who is unhappy or uncomfortable with any action or anything or is sufficiently aggrieved about any particular law, such as the law against stealing, should go to court been thrown by anyone? And acting on that kind of challenge, has someone filled with some Judeo- Christian values gone to court even up to the Supreme Court and has lost the cause with a court ruling that that law is antiquated, otiose and utterly out of tune with current realities where everyone seems to be positively disposed to stealing?
I ask these questions because I am utterly overwhelmed by the readiness of most Nigerians and businesses run in Nigeria to steal, to undercut a neigbour, to support, sponsor and abet stealing as if stealing has been declared a human right or a new kind of freedom won by human rights crusaders.
I have talked about businesses run in Nigeria because most of the companies owned and run by foreigners here such as MTN, the oil mining concerns and many others, have joined in the stealing spirit prevalent in our country. The willingly and actively engage in this Nigerian way of life that they dare not do in their own countries of origin. In fact, this piece is triggered by a text message I have been receiving for some days now from MTN. It says: ‘’Dear Customer, your subscription to SpinNwin Daily has been renewed successfully and N50.0 deducted from your account. This service will expire and auto renew on 02/05/2023(It keeps changing to another day every day). To cancel, text CANCEL SPIN to 20077. Dial 447# to manage your services. Thank you!’’ At the bottomest part of this evilous message is the catch ‘’Sender does not support replies’’.
While this game is still on until this minute, six days ago MTN still came with another of its swindling gimmick. It sent me another text message: ‘’Dear customer, you have successfully subscribed to GameWin JP and N50.0 deducted from your account. Your service will be renewed on 17/05/2023. to cancel, text STOP JP to 4446’’. Like the earlier ‘’compulsory successful subscription’’, the option to cancel is impossible to achieve.
I am not a gambler and I desire to become a crusader against gambling and other similar social vices very soon so I know I did not subscribe to SpinNwin Daily or GameWin JP. Everyday I go out to work in the fields so that My God can bless the work of my hands as he promised me and other believers so I will never engage in any spin or twitch to win anything daily or weekly or monthly or annually.
When I first beheld this shameless stealing by MTN, I tried desperately to text back to them to stop this bare-faced stealing from my credit. It was when I calmed down that I saw the implication of that their message that I call the catch—‘’Sender does not support replies’’. If you are duped or stylishly stolen from, you should not bother to seek to wriggle free from it because MTN does not support replies from people they are stealing from. It is a very callous, criminal and carefully crafted stealing adventure in the name of promoting a business offer to customers. I looked for the expletive former minister Oby Ezekwesili used in expressing her outrage over a promotional package the apparatchiks of her party, the PDP under Obasanjo, despicably used her name without informing her but I couldn’t find it to use against MTN.
Telecom service providers in our country do to us what MTN has done to me and no one seems to bother about this crude stealing. Let the PRO of MTN calculate how much MTN has stolen from me all these days that it has stylishly been deducting N50.0 from me or else, I will actually go to court because I never subscribed to that their gambling stuff and I cannot easily reach their Customer Care to complain. What is more, I am a man of the open field. I do not have the time or the stamina to reach their Customer Care to be told to press I, 2, 3, 4 or 5 numbers as they usually do before I can get my matter resolved. Time and the serenity of my mind are precious to me. I can not fritter them away because some people with a stealing mentally are not content with the huge profits they make off of Nigerians but want to steal and steal under whatever guises in order to destroy the very people who patronize their services. My MTN phone number is 08036938729. I have given it so MTN can pay me back what they have unjustly taken from me.
Next week, we will deal with how stealing seems to have become the norm among Nigerians as the commentary about how even some foreign- run businesses in Nigeria have taken up all the space this week.
