By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Senior Correspondent
Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court Lagos has issued an order vacating the ex-parte order granted by the same court on July 3, 2017 which gave interim legal backing to the board of directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Service (EMTS), operators and owners of Etisalat.
Consequent upon the vacating of the ex-parte order, the judge made a fresh order nullifying the appointment of the interim board for EMTS, a telecommunications outfit in Nigeria, operators and owners of Etisalat.
The nullification order was made by Justice Buba on Friday sequel to application filed by Spectrum Wireless Communication Ltd, which invested $35million in 2009 in EMTS/Etisalat.
Ruling on the application, the judge said: “An order is hereby granted discharging the ex-parte order made by this court in this suit in favour of the respondent on the 3rd day of July 2017.
“The order made pursuant to motion ex-parte dated 3rd day of July 2017 was a nullity, made without jurisdiction and obtained by misrepresentation of facts. Same be and is hereby discharged and vacated as prayed.
“The motion for stay is struck out having set aside the order. The respondent shall reverse all steps taken by it since the order was a nullity.”
Therefore with the court order, the appointment of Dr Joseph Nnana of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as chairman, Mr Boye Olusanya as Managing Director, Mrs Funke Ighodaro as Chief Financial Officer, Mr Seyi Bickersthet and Mr Ken Igbokwe as members of the board of EMTS becomes invalid.
The nullification follows dismissal of the preliminary objection filed by United Capital Trustees Ltd in response to the application by Spectrum Wireless, a shareholder of EMTS.
In its application,Spectrum Wireless averred that the order was obtained by misrepresentation of facts which alienated its interests in the company.
The interim board of EMTS, which has the backing of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), had received bids from about five bidders in its advertised sale of the company.
The sale was to be concluded by last December 31, but was recently shifted to January 16 this year.
The solicitors had issued warning that any institution or company who transacts business for the purpose of sale or acquisition of EMTS or 9Mobile does so at their own risk.
EMTS), widely known as Etisalat had secured a telecommunications license in 2007 and has equity participation by local and foreign investors. In 2011, it secured facilities from a consortium of domestic banks under the auspices of United Capital Trustees Ltd (United Capital) to the tune of N115.6billion and $235million.
Its alleged default to service the facilities evoked recovery action by United Capital.
The sensitivities of such action to the health of the Nigerian financial system, the telecommunications sector and the economy in general, prompted tempered action with the consent of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to avert possible adverse impacts.
There was anxiety in some quarters and fears that such action smacked of a takeover of the company by the government, a move that could bring undue preference to the company that could disrupt or distort competition that has been instrumental to the vibrancy of the telecommunications sector.
Following the exit of Etisalat and its directors in a bizarre circumstances in June 2017 from EMTS, United Capital initiated action and obtained an ex-parte order of July 3, 2017 to appoint a Transitional Board to supervise over the affairs of the company.
The Transitional Board rebranded the company as 9mobile and announced a bid for the sale of the company to interested investors.
The bid was intended to be concluded with handover of EMTS to the preferred or successful bidder by December 31, 2017 but has since been shifted to January 16, 2018.
Perturbed that United Capital’s action did not take their stake in EMTS into consideration, other investors (non-bankers) in EMTS led by Spectrum Wireless, approached the court December 2017 to challenge the ex-parte order granted in favour of United Capital.
After hearing the application of Spectrum Wireless last Friday, Justice Buba granted its prayers, saying that the ex-parte order granted to United Capital was due to misrepresentation of facts made available to the court at the time.
