The controversy trailing the award of the 2.3GHz frequency license to three companies by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assumed a new dimension with the arrest last week of Managing Director of Mobitel, Mr Johnson Salako, on allegations that it fraudulently obtained a N243 million waiver from NCC.

NCC's Executive Vice Chairman, Ernest Ndukwe, had previously been questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in response to petitions filed by the Minister of Communications and Information, Dora Akunyili.

The Minister was reported to have based her invitation of EFCC to the matter, which many stakeholders argued should have been dealt with administratively, on claims that a certain company A3 0 Limited, filed a petition on the license award process. But the company, which was alleged to have written the petition on which ground the Minister was reported to have based its invitation of the EFCC has disclaimed ever writing such petitions insisting instead that its letter head was forged. It complained officially to the Minister.

The Minister had also on her own frowned on the licensing process. But NCC had insisted that there was nothing about the award that ran foul of its enabling act and its allegiance to due process. It insisted that the frequencies which it awarded had earlier been given to it by the National Frequency Management Board.

But the recent arrest of the Mobitel MD has brought a new twist to the unfolding drama. It brings to question whether the NCC has the right by law to grant waiver or discount. If it does why should a beneficiary of exercise of a discretionary right be viewed as a crime against the nation?

President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, toes this line of argument. He asked if a beneficiary of a state pardon by a constituted court of law be held liable for the pardon, even if he asked for it.

EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi, argues that the NCC does not have such powers. An official at the NCC insists that the commission is empowered by law to grant discounts if the matter at hand justifies it.

Mobitel's Chief Commercial Officer, Okon Iyanam, said "the EFCC has breached the constitution and the law by mindlessly and unjustifiably detaining Salako for more than two days since Thursday. The arrest of Salako is the height of the abuse of power in a most malicious manner by EFCC", Iyanam insist.

Mobitel, which went dormant following the alleged assassination of its founding CEO, Charles Joseph, had piled up a five year annual operating levy amounting to N743 million. When it expressed interest to bid for the 2.3 GHz license NCC asked it to meet all its financial obligations to its creditors, NCC inclusive before it could be allowed to bid and revive its network.

Following an argument that Mobitel presented to the NCC that it had not operated its network for five years, the Commission granted it a discount (waiver). Mobitel eventually paid N500 million to the NCC and paid other telecom operators that it was indebted to. But it appeared the EFCC and the Ministry of Communication was not impressed with this argument.

Also reactions and counter reactions over allegations of petitions on the cancellation of the nation's 2.3 GHz spectrum band, is becoming a source of worry to Nigerians who want to know the true position of the 2.3 GHz radio frequency band.

A3 & O Nigeria Limited petitioned the Minister of Information and Communications, Akunyili for its alleged involvement in the 2.3GHz spectrum band that was recently auctioned and cancelled.

The petition signed by the firm's Secretary, Mrs. Adebola Akinwande, frowned media reports alleging that the firm had on May 6, 2009, sent a petition to the Minister, complaining about the poor handling of the 2.3 GHz spectrum sale by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), a situation, many believed may have prompted the Minister to cancel the already concluded sale and award of the licenses.

The NCC had last month, commenced the process of auctioning the nation's 2.3GHz spectrum band, and three operators won the bid. Soon after the award of license to two of the operators that met the payment deadlines, Akunyili rose to cancel the whole process.

According to the petition dated May 22, 2009, and addressed to the Minister of Information and Communications, A3 & O Nigeria Limited, denied its participation in the bidding process of the radio frequency band, and insisted that the firm did not at any time petition the Minister over the purported poor handling of the 2.3GHz band sale.

Why should we complain of poor handling of the bidding process to the extent of sending a petition when we did not participate in the bidding process, the firm asked in its petition letter.

Part of the petition reads: We would like to state categorically that our company did not petition the Minister nor any other body, office or agency. Our company did not participate in the auction of the 2.3GHz spectrum sale and so could not have complained about the NCC's handling of the auction process. It is clear that the alleged petition is the work of mischief makers and we dissociate ourselves completely from it. In fact we never heard of the petition until the articles were published.

Reacting to the same media reports, Ahmed Musdafa from Abuja said in a statement that the articles did not project the correct message to the public. According to Musdafa, "What efforts did the writers put in to balance their articles? Did the writer of the article cross-check how factual the information sent to him was? What would the writer make of the revelation that the company, A3&0 Ltd, quoted by him as having protested to Madam Minister, did not in fact write any petition that Madam Minister claimed was the reason for her actions?

Musdafa further said there are now confirmed reports that the chairman of the company, Mr Wale Adeyinka, called the writer as soon as he read the write-up on Saturday morning and complained about the mention of his company's name, and said that his company never wrote any petition to the Minister on the 2.3GHz spectrum sale. He insisted that his company never intended to nor applied for the spectrum licence on offer.

According to Musdafa, it is also instructive to note that the other company that Madam Minister claimed had petitioned her, Galaxy Wireless Limited has also denied ever petitioning the Minister on the 2.3GHz sale. These revelations have not only put in doubt, the motive and basis upon which the Minister had challenged the licensing process, but also put a lot of question mark about the sources of the so-called 'petitions' which may well have been contrived from within her office. Could this have been a case of forgery and fraud, he questioned.

He said a curious and extremely ridiculous twist was added to the saga, when a faceless person was desperately contrived to discredit the story. The said the faceless person claimed he did not write the petition in question on his company's letterhead. He does not have an address, cannot disclose the name of his company and worst of all he cannot address the press so people can establish that he ever exists. Instead, he sat in a corner to issue press statement which magically found its way into the hands of only the minister's aide for onward transmission to the media, he said.