The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has closed the SMS platform launched by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to raise funds for its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, for the February 2015 polls.
Director of the Buhari-Osinbajo Fund Raising Campaign, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, told newsmen in Lagos on Thursday that the NCC shut down the platform on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Fashola, at a news conference at the State House in Marina, Lagos, launched five platforms to enable interested Nigerians donate to the organisation, one of which was the SMS platform.
The organisation had urged donors using Airtel, Etisalat, Glo, MTN or Visaphone to send APC to 35350 at the rate of N100, but the governor said that due to NCC’s action, some Nigerians have been unable to contribute to the cause.
Fashola noted that as at the time of the clampdown, about 5400 people had used the platform for the donation.
He expressed shock at the desperation of President Goodluck Jonathan to use government’s tools to oppress the opposition. He said the shutdown is a violation of the peoples’ rights.
“The NCC has shut down the 35350 platform for sending N100 message to the Buhari fund raising campaign yesterday afternoon (Wednesday). Before it was shut down, 5400 people had contributed N100 to the Buhari campaign fund using the platform,” the governor told journalists in Lagos.
Fashola said in 2010, the Jonathan-Sambo campaign used the same SMS platform to raise funds for its campaign and wondered why the President is desperate to remain in power.
He appealed to Jonathan to direct NCC to restore the platform. Fashola emphasised that the organisation entered a purely business relationship with the telecoms operators and not partisan.
He asked, “Why should a commercial transaction be frustrated because of one man’s desire to serve and why should they be shutting down generational platform?”
