A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has voided the sale of Etisalat International Nigeria Limited (9mobile) to Teleology Nigeria Limited.
Etisalat International Nigeria Limited is one of the top telecommunication company in Nigeria which is now 9mobile.
In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Binta Nyako voided all steps taken in relation to the exchange of ownership of Etisalat despite pending orders for maintenance of status quo, restraining parties to a suit, involving investors and other stakeholders in the company, from destroying the res (subject matter).
Justice Nyako, who noted that parties were all aware of the existence of the suit, the defendants having been served between April 24 and 27, 2018 with the originating process, faulted the sale, as claimed by the plaintiffs in a motion filed on November 16, 2018.
The judge held: “Any action that has been taken concerning the rest of this litigation from the 25th day of April, which is earlier in time, should revert to the position, as of the res, to its 25th day of April 2018.”
The ruling, given on April 1, 2019 a copy of which The Nation sighted on Thursday) was in a suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/288/2018 filed on April 6, 2018 by two major investors in Etisalat, Afdin Ventures Limited and Dirbia Nigeria Limited.
Afdin and Dirbia, whose investments in Etisalat is estimated at $43,033,950, had sued to retrieve their investments on the grounds that they were aggrieved, having been excluded from the decision making process of the company.
Defendants in the suit are Karington Telecommunication Ltd, Premium Telecommunications Holdings NV, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Central Bank of Nigeria, Etisalat International Nigeria Ltd and Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).
