|
BNW |
|
B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Onosode becomes V-Mobile chairman
TWENTY-ONE days after he joined the board of Vee Networks as a director, Mr. Gamaliel Oforitse Onosode yesterday emerged as the new chairman of V-Mobile.
Onosode will be the third person to hold the position. The other two were Oba Otudeko (August 2001 to August 10, 2004) and Lagos State Finance Commissioner, Dr. Razaq Adewusi, who acted in that capacity for 29 days from August 10, 2004.
Onosode's appointment is coming after nearly 36 months of boardroom squabble that had led to several court cases across the globe, especially over shareholders and shareholding disagreements.
All the directors, except Otudeko, attended the meeting, which lasted for several hours yesterday.
Otudeko sent a representative.
Specifically, corporate shareholders, including Delta, Akwa Ibom and Lagos states, were fully represented.
Although directors loyal to Otudeko were said to have put up some resistance to the changes, their voice votes were said to be "too weak" to dissuade the rest over the choice of Onosode.
The 12-member board which sat in Lagos also approved several contracts for network expansion.
These include the North to South backbone network awarded to Siemens, AG of Germany.
There was also a contract for Radio Transmission link awarded to Huawei Technology of China.
Huawei will build 500 base stations across the country to improve transmission of traffic among others.
Motorola of United States also got a 500 base station contract which it is due to deliver first quarter of next year.
Ericsson of Sweden also got the board's nod to build a multi-site customer call centres across the country.
Onosode said: "Let us work together for the benefit of the country and our investors."
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had recently begun the probe of the firm's sale of shares and circumstances behind the withdrawal of its former partners, Vodacom South Africa.
The Executive Chairman of EFCC, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, had asked probe committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the exit of Vodacom from Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN) which is known as Vee Networks; investigate the issue involved in the legal tussle between Econet Wireless International (EWI), founding technical partner to EWN and to detemine the implications of the two points above.
Vee Networks which operates under the name of V-Mobile has been embroiled in several cases in the country and abroad over shareholders' disagreements.
First, its founding partners, Strive Masiyiwa of EWI, had gone to court when the board denied its pre-emptive right to increase its shares from five per cent to 33 per cent according to shareholders' agreement earlier put in place.
The board dumped Masiyiwa and EWI and opted for Vodacom of South Africa which was granted majority shares in EWN.
But due to several legal disagreements on the subject between Masiyiwa and EWN on the one hand, between Masiyiwa and Vodacom on the other hand, and between First Bank of Nigeria Plc and EWN on the other, the board of EWN opted for a five-year management contract with Vodacom on April 1, 2004.
But less than two months after, the Vodacom board in South Africa pulled out of the deal. Its Group Chief Executive, Mr. Alan Knott-Craig, alleged that Vodacom was pulling out because of brokerage fees paid to some brokers who attracted shareholders to EWN.
Over N540 million has gone into the several law suits in various courts in the world.
Instability in the company has equally led to the frequent name changes in the company. The firm has metamorphosed from Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN) to Vee Networks with the trade name V-Mobile.
Although officials kept sealed lips over the EFCC case, the case had prompted several inquiries even from potential investors in the company and other telecom and blue chip concerns.
Delta, Edo and Lagos States governments and others hold controlling share of about 55 per cent while Oba Otudeko, First Bank, and others hold less than 35 per cent shares, a position that has tilted the scale in favour of the states.
|
|
||||||||||||
