Court Orders Teleology to Pay N55bn Debt 

Wale Igbintade 

Justice Yellin Bogoro of a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered a telecoms firm, Teleology Nigeria Limited, owners of 9Mobile Network, to pay the sum of N55,776,507,599.00, being owed to Keystone Bank Limited. 

In an action filed on behalf of Keystone Bank Limited by its counsel, Bode Olanipekun, SAN, Teleology Nigeria Limited was alleged to have failed to service the loan facility which was deployed towards financing its acquisition of strategic assets in Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd., doing business as 9Mobile Network. 

Olanipekun pointed out that despite the bank’s offer of restructuring of the loan facility, Teleology failed to meet up with various conditions precedent, operation conditions, transaction dynamics, as well as other conditions stated in the restructuring letter. 

Addressing the court, Olanipekun said, “rather than receive payment on the defendant’s debt liabilities, the plaintiff received a presentation from a company called PAC Limited proposing amongst others, a debt sale and/or acquisition by Bankruptcy Remote Special Purpose Vehicle in a proposed transaction structure akin to a conversion of the debt to equity without any immediate down payment or repayment of the outstanding huge indebtedness of the defendant.”

However, Counsel to Teleology Nigeria Limited, Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, urged the court not to deliver judgement in favour of Keystone Bank, contesting that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain matters relating to banker-customer relationship. 

In his reaction, Olanipekun prayed the court to discountenanced Mr. Aondoakaa’s submissions, as there was no application for the arrest of the court’s judgement or an appeal against the order of court.

Resolving the issue, Justice Bogoro, held that the defendant’s application was akin to an arrest of judgement and that the said procedure was incompatible with the proceedings before it. 

While holding that the defendant had no defence to the action, Justice Bogoro entered judgment in favour of the Keystone Bank, and ordered Teleology to pay the sum of sum of Fifty-five Billion Naira, Seven Hundred and Seventy-six Million, Five Hundred and Seven Thousand, Five Hundred and Nine Naira, Sixty Kobo, being the outstanding debt from the loan facilities granted to it.