Gunmen kill MTN sub-contractors in Nigeria

Four sub-contractors of MTN Nigeria and two mobile police officers have been killed by four gunmen as they were carrying out maintenance work on an MTN base transmitter station (BTS) in the South-East of that country.

According to an MTN spokesperson, the four gunmen approached the base station, which was being maintained by a team including an Ericsson contractor and wanted to steal the vehicles used by the staff.
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The staff could not hand over the keys of the vehicles to the armed robbers because the key holder had left to use a toilet.

The gunmen opened fire on the staff killing three workers and two policemen inside the base station hut, and one other worker on the tower.

The Ericsson Engineer and his driver hid behind the Radio Base Station units on the site and survived the assault.

Local military men heard the noise of gunshots and raced to the scene and scared off the gunmen before they could steal the vehicles or find the survivors of the attack.

The MTN Nigeria spokeperson says this is not the first time MTN sub-contractors have been attacked and killed.

He said one was killed on September 1 and another in August this year under similar circumstances.

The spokeperson said MTN Nigeria workers are not perturbed by the killings but they remain committed to their duties to provide better service to customers, adding that their thoughts are with the bereaved families.

The President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engineer Titi Omo-Ettu described the incident as too callous to be regarded as one of the usual stories.

Mrs. Gina Asare-Fiagbenu, the Head of Corporate Communications of MTN Ghana, says the incident is regrettable.

By Samuel Dowuona