Nigerian Lawyer Zaenab Adams Demands Answers From MTN Over Data Depletion

Nigerian lawyer and X user, Zaenab Olawunmi Adams (@yettydlaw_), has demanded a detailed explanation from MTN Nigeria after discovering that 708.55GB had reportedly been depleted from her 800GB annual data plan in just over three months. She made the complaint public on August 28 after sharing screenshots of a formal email she sent to MTN Customer Care demanding a detailed reconciliation of her data usage on her X account.

The issue came to public attention on August 28, when Zaenab shared screenshots of a formal complaint she sent to MTN Customer Care after being informed that she had 91.45GB remaining on the plan she purchased for ₦125,000 on May 15, 2026. By August 27, about 104 days after she subscribed, MTN’s records indicated that approximately 708.55GB of the 800GB allocation had been used. These figures immediately raised questions for her, who said her usual internet activity did not come close to explaining that level of consumption.

In her complaint, she described the depletion as highly unusual and disproportionate and said it raised concerns about the accuracy, integrity and proper accounting of the deductions made against her purchased data allocation.

She also explained that she is not a high-volume data user, does not use multiple devices on the line and is not a gamer. Her ordinary internet use, she said, is largely limited to social media, messaging, browsing, and other personal online activities on a single mobile device. She therefore asked MTN to show her exactly what had happened to the data.

Her requests included the date and time of each data consumption session recorded against her line, the amount deducted during each session, and a chronological record showing her opening balance, every material deduction and the balance left afterwards. 

She also asked MTN to identify the application, service, category or destination responsible for each material deduction where that information is available. The request covered less obvious forms of data consumption too. She asked for details of all background, system-generated, automatic, or network-related data consumption attributed to her line, along with deductions from subscriptions, add-on services, auto-renewals, content services, and other services activated on the line. 

She also asked MTN to confirm whether any portion of her 800GB had been transferred, shared, gifted, migrated, reallocated, adjusted, reversed, expired or deducted for any reason other than her direct internet usage.

She wanted the company to confirm the exact amount credited to her line when the 800GB plan was activated, provide the dates, times and quantities of all deductions, and produce a final reconciliation showing how it arrived at the 91.45GB balance. She was particularly clear that she did not want a generic explanation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, a response merely stating that ‘the data was used’ will not constitute a satisfactory response to this complaint/”

She also wrote that the issue was the basis, accuracy and integrity of the deductions reflected in MTN’s records. When she made the complaint public, she gave MTN until the end of August 31 to respond with what she described as a comprehensive report and review.

“Just so you know, I totally DETEST cheating so I won’t rest ooo until this matter is duly resolved.”

MTN initially responded to her post with an automated customer care message apologising for her experience and asking her to provide details of her concern. The exchange continued after that response. She later disclosed that MTN had sent her a report at about 11 p.m., but said she was still struggling to make sense of it hours later, as the report still did not provide the explanation she had asked for.

She also clarified that MTN had copied the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in its response to her.

“It’s also imperative that I state that MTN copied NCC and FCCPC in their response to me”

According to Zaenab, she had not contacted the two agencies herself and would be watching to see what they had to say. The involvement of the regulators has added another layer to a complaint that initially began with one customer asking her network provider to explain her data deductions. The NCC’s own quality of service framework includes billing integrity, customer complaints and the speed at which problems are resolved among the areas it monitors for telecommunications operators. 

For many Nigerians, the frustration surrounding the complaint also feels familiar. Mobile data has become an everyday necessity for work, business, communication, entertainment and even basic access to services, yet customers regularly contend with expensive data plans, poor network coverage and periods when the service they have paid for simply does not work as expected. The pressure on consumers has also grown alongside increases in telecommunications tariffs. In January 2025, the NCC approved tariff adjustments of up to 50 per cent, while saying operators would be required to implement the increases transparently and demonstrate improvements in service delivery. 

That is part of what has made Zaenab’s complaint resonate with other Nigerians. Shortly after she asked people who had experienced unusual or unexplained depletion to come forward, her posts began attracting subscribers sharing their own experiences with MTN. She has now created a form to collect those accounts and supporting evidence.

“If you don’t fill the form, there will be no evidence for us to present in support of our demands and, in turn, this will become me demanding relief for myself, rather than us demanding our reliefs”

She asked anyone who had experienced unusual, unexplained, excessive or disputed depletion of their MTN data to fill and sign the form, and in another post, she summed up what she hopes the exercise will achieve

“Your experience could be the evidence we need to establish that this is bigger than one person. This is no longer a fight for ONE. It is a fight for ALL”

The survey has given other MTN subscribers a place to document complaints that might otherwise remain individual customer service issues. Some users have already responded publicly to the survey, sharing their accounts of data disappearing faster than expected. She wants the information documented so that the wider claim can be examined with records from affected customers. In her own case, Zaenab has also said she never set out to seek a court battle.

“Taking this matter to court wasn’t even in my book at all,” she wrote after receiving MTN’s report. She said she only wanted a detailed explanation that she could review and would have accepted the outcome if the records showed that she had actually consumed the reported amount.

Zaenab and her legal team are continuing to collate reports from other MTN subscribers while she awaits further developments from the company and the agencies copied into its response. At the centre of this conversation is a fairly simple demand: customers should be able to understand how the data they have paid for is being deducted.