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A customer identified as Hadiza Abdullahi has won a major legal battle against telecommunications giant, Globacom Nigeria Limited, over an unauthorized SIM swap that exposed her to serious security risk.
In a judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on December 16, 2024, the court ordered GLO to pay the sum of ₦2,000,000 as damages to Hadiza for violating her privacy and breaching her trust.
The issue started when Hadiza’s GLO line was swapped and re-allocated to another person without her permission. GLO claimed that a man named Mohammed Yusuf came to request the SIM swap, claiming to be Hadiza’s husband. He reportedly told GLO officials that Hadiza was heavily pregnant and couldn’t appear in person, and presented some documents to that effect.
GLO said they followed all the necessary procedures under the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) guidelines.
But Hadiza denied ever sending anyone or authorizing the SIM swap, and the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice A.I. Chikere, agreed with her. The court ruled that GLO had no concrete evidence to prove Yusuf was actually her husband and criticized the company for trusting a third party without direct verification from the actual subscriber.
Not satisfied, GLO appealed the decision, asking the appellate court to reverse the ₦2 million compensation and review the facts again.
But in a unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal threw out the appeal, siding with Hadiza once more. Justice A.M. Mainoma, who delivered the lead judgment, said GLO failed to prove its claim and had violated Hadiza’s privacy by handing her line over to someone else without her clear approval.
He said GLO’s action was not only careless and unprofessional, but also “arbitrary, unconstitutional, and outrageously reprehensible.”
The court also criticized the telco for being inconsistent, saying, “You cannot admit to doing something, then try to deny it at the same time.”
Justice Mainoma also pointed out that telecommunications companies have a duty of confidentiality to protect their users' personal data and should not hand it over to any individual without proper verification or legal approval.
With this ruling, GLO is now expected to pay the ₦2 million compensation as earlier directed by the Federal High Court.
The ruling has sparked fresh concerns over how telecom companies handle customers’ data and SIM swaps in Nigeria. Many users say cases like this are the reason they’re afraid to lose their phones or lines, as some fraudsters use such loopholes to commit crimes.
For Hadiza, however, this judgment may bring closure and justice after what was clearly a disturbing and avoidable experience.
