News

Frustrated GoTV Subscribers Demand Refund After Channel Shutdown

Published

11 months ago

October 24, 2024

Subscribers, particularly football-loving Nigerians using GoTV, a prepaid satellite cable service, were frustrated on Tuesday night when multiple channels suddenly disappeared.

The PUNCH reports that the outage experienced by the subscribers on Tuesday led many customers to demand compensation from Multichoice, GoTV’s parent company, during separate interviews on Wednesday.

Several football fans watching on cable TV were eager to witness their favourite clubs take to the pitch as the Champions League, a popular game where clubs from Europe showcase their skill and determination, returned on Tuesday night.

However, some football fans, especially those watching on GoTV, were disappointed when all the football channels on the cable service suddenly disappeared.

It was bserved that sports channels like SS BLITZ Africa, SS Football Africa, SS La Liga Africa, SS Select 1, SS Select 2, and ESPN had vanished.

Several other channels, including M-Net Movies 4, ROK, Africa Magic Epic, TNT Africa, Al Jazeera, CNN International, Arise News, TVC News Nigeria, and Channels Television, also went off on Monday and had not been restored as the time this report was filed.

Findings on Wednesday revealed that the Intelsat 33e, a geostationary high-throughput satellite serving Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of the Asia-Pacific, experienced a severe power failure on Saturday.

According to a report on Monday by Developing Telecoms, an online platform operated by a UK-based company, the failure caused a significant disruption, cutting service to all customers. Meanwhile, our correspondent learnt that MultiChoice is among the affected customers.

While many football fans, eager to watch their favourite clubs in action on Tuesday night, were left outraged by the service interruption, others expressed their disappointment to our correspondent, criticising MultiChoice for failing to communicate the disruption promptly.

A football viewing centre owner in Ojodu Berger told The PUNCH on Wednesday that his customers were disappointed when they couldn’t watch their teams on Tuesday.

“I’ve never been in this situation before. I use both GoTV and DSTV. On Champions League nights, there are usually many matches, so I use GoTV to show the games that my customers want to watch.

“I was shocked when I couldn’t find any of the sports channels. I thought there might be an issue with the antenna, so I tried changing the location, but the problem persisted.

“I checked the menu for any messages to customers about the disruption, but there was nothing. It was a catastrophe,” Sanjo lamented.

Another subscriber, Adebola Oluwatosin, who identified himself as a devoted Real Madrid fan, while demanding compensation from MultiChoice for the service failure, described his experience on Tuesday as disturbing.

“If I knew something was wrong with them (GoTV), I would stay with my friend who owns a DSTV to see the Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund match.

“I bought fuel because there was no power supply at the time, only to find that all the sports channels had disappeared. I had just paid for a subscription of 13,900.

“They need to compensate us. Since this is a monthly subscription, will they extend the expiration date to account for the days the channels were unavailable? We need answers,” Oluwatosin demanded.

When contacted on Wednesday, the company’s spokesperson, Caroline Oghuma, stated that MultiChoice was working to restore services for all its customers.

“We are experiencing a temporary disruption in our services due to a technical issue with one of our satellite providers, Intelsat.”

News

Boko Haram Once Nominated Muhammadu Buhari As Negotiator – Jonathan Revealed

Published

3 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday, disclosed that Boko Haram insurgents once nominated the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari as their negotiator.

Jonathan said Boko Haram chose Buhari to negotiate with the Nigerian government on their behalf.

He made the disclosure while speaking at the public presentation of Scars, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja.

Jonathan said the insurgents named Buhari after his then-administration set up several committees to explore dialogue with the group.

Jonathan said: “One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government.

“So I was feeling that, oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and had a discussion with the government committee, then when Buhari took over, it could have been an easy way to negotiate with them and they would have handed over their guns. But it was still there till today.”

Jonathan noted that the inability of Buhari to eradicate Boko Haram terrorists showed that the crisis was more complex than often portrayed.

News

Edo: Pandemonium As NDLEA Operatives Chase Escaping Driver With Shooting

Published

6 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

There was pandemonium at Oka Market, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City, Friday, as operatives of the State Command of Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) shot sporadically in chase of an escaping driver.

In the course of the commotion, traders and residents took to their heels, probably to avoid being hit by stray bullets, while others were confused, not sure of what caused the sporadic gunshots.

The sporadic gunshots which lasted more than five minutes at the gate of the NDLEA Head Office, by Oka Market, followed a hot chase of an articulated vehicle driver who was said to have brushed their (NDLEA) vehicle.

The driver, who reportedly brushed the NDLEA vehicle refused to stop for negation, which prompted officers at the scene to alert their colleagues who waited at the alert.

According to eyewitnesses, as the escaping articulated driver approached the NDLEA office, officers who were said to have been alerted by their colleagues pursuing the trailer began to shoot.

Seven of the tyres of the trailer were deflated by bullets of the NDLEA operatives yet the driver refused to stop.

The officers continued to shoot while pursuing him, until he was caught.

A source said that the driver brushed their vehicle on the way, and that every effort by the officers to stop him so they could settle the matter proved abortive; hence the gunshots and deflation of the tires.

“It was a simple thing; they jammed our men, but the officers tried to stop him so that they could settle, but the driver refused to stop. That is why the men have been shooting to stop him. Even after bursting about seven tires, he was still running, but we caught him and they are bringing him back to our office,” he concluded.

Calls and messages sent to the commander, Edo State NDLEA Command, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, were not responded to as at when filing this.

News

JUST IN: Court Bars Police From Enforcing Tinted Glass Regulation

Published

7 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

The Federal High Court sitting in Warri has issued an order directing the Nigeria Police Force and the Inspector-General of Police to maintain the status quo in the ongoing case concerning the controversial tinted glass permit.

The case, Suit No. FHC/WR/CS/103/2025: John Aikpokpo-Martins v. Inspector-General of Police & Nigeria Police Force, came up for hearing today.

Delivering the interim order, the Court directed the police authorities to respect judicial processes pending further proceedings in the matter.

Confirming the development, Kunle Edun, SAN, who led the legal team, noted that the directive is a major step in ensuring that the rule of law is upheld while the substantive issues in the case are being determined.

Details of the ruling and the next adjourned date are expected shortly.

Further updates coming soon…