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Breaking: LH Telecoms Acquires Majority Stake In 9mobile
Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited, operating under the trade name 9Mobile, has been acquired by LH Telecommunication Limited.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by the company, the acquisition of majority shares in the Nigerian telecom company was approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as required by law.
The investment, which was approved by African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM), the senior lender to 9Mobile in May 2023 has resulted in a change in control of 9Mobile in favour of the new investor by the issuance of new shares amounting to 95.5% of 9Mobile to the new investor in consideration for the injection of fresh capital into the company.
Pursuant to the injection of capital, the new investor nominated the following persons to the board of directors of 9Mobile:
Thomas Etuh
He is the new Chairman of the Board. According to the company, Etuh is an accomplished and versatile entrepreneur with over 36 years of experience in strategic sectors of the African economy, including agriculture, fertilizer production, mining, banking, telecommunications, power and aviation.
“He is a passionate leader with a track record of successful corporate management, ensuring that clear objectives and expectations are delivered and sustained. Mr. Etuh is the founder of the Tak Group of Companies. He previously served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unity Bank Plc, Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc and Lighthouse Capital Limited. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Notore Chemicals Industries Plc. As Chairman of Jennifer Etuh Foundation (JEF), he has championed several healthcare and life-empowering projects in the underserved regions of Nigeria,” the company stated.
Other Directors on the Board include,
Nahim Abe Ibraheem
He has over 30 years of experience across finance, upstream and downstream oil trade, procurement, and manufacturing.
He began his career at Orbit Communications in 1990 and founded Soveran Nigeria Limited, a specialty procurement and petroleum product distribution company, in 1995.
- As Chairman of Euronat Nigeria Limited, he has overseen major oil product exports from the NLNG and NNPC. His notable roles include representing VShips Monaco S.A in Nigeria and advising Africa Merchant Bank ( a Fortis Bank Subsidiary) and Société Générale Bank France.
- Mr. Ibraheem serves as Chairman of the Boards of Veritas Kapital Assurance PLC and Lighthouse Capital Limited, as well as a Non-Executive Director of the VFD Group and Veritas Glanvills Pensions Ltd.
- He has sat on the boards of Morris Nigeria Limited and Superphosphate Fertilisers & Chemicals Limited. He is a member of the Institute of Directors (Nigeria) and PESA, and an avid sports fan.
Femi Edun
He is a financial services industry professional with over 35 years’ experience across assurance, consulting, credit ratings and research, investment banking and proprietary investment, from a variety of roles in Akintola Williams & Co (now Deloitte), Price Waterhouse, (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), Agusto & Co. Limited, Nigeria’s first credit rating agency and Frontier Capital Limited.
- He has been involving in notable pioneering initiatives in the financial services industry and several landmark transactions.
- Whilst serving as a volunteer adviser to the Federal Government, he was a non-executive director of the Bank of Industry.
- He is the Chairman of the board of Craneburg Construction Limited, independent non-executive director of Chevron Closed Pension Fund Administrators Limited and non-executive director of Notore Chemical Industries Plc and Agusto & Co. Limited amongst others.
Board members
Following the completion of the transaction, LH Telecommunication Limited has also nominated the following new members to the board of directors of 9Mobile:
Senator Daisy Ehanire Danjuma
She was elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2003 where she served on numerous committees, most notably as Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Women and Children’s Rights Committee and Chairman Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Development.
Following her legislative tenure, she held the position of Executive Vice Chairman of SAPETRO until December 2023 when she was appointed as the Executive Chairman. Senator Danjuma is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the H I D Awolowo Foundation, a Member Board of Trustees of Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), the Chairman Board of Trustees of Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) and the Chairman of May & Baker Nigeria Plc.
- She worked as a State Counsel in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice (Department of Public Prosecutions) and was a pioneer Legal Counsel to the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria before working for the investment bank Nigerian Acceptances Limited (NAL Merchant Bank).
- She was Company Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) before moving into private practice.
- Senator Danjuma is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA). Senator Daisy Danjuma has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by the University of Ibadan, University of Benin and Redeemer’s University.
Michael Ikpoki
Michael Ikpoki is an accomplished Multinational Business Executive/Leader with over 25 year’s experience across regulatory, commercial, operational management/leadership and consulting/advisory roles in the African Telecom Industry.
- He was a former Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana and MTN Nigeria.
- He is Founder/Managing Partner of Africa Context Advisory Partners where he leads expert teams to consult on Telecom/ICT in Africa. He is Chairman of the Boards of Capricorn Digital Limited and Amplitude Telecoms Africa Limited.
- He is a member of the Boards of Telecel Group and Unilever Nigeria Plc.
Ibrahim Puri
Ibrahim Ajimasu Puri is a finance professional who possesses over 30 years of cognate banking experience encompassing operations, marketing, retail, corporate banking, and human resource management.
- He was an Executive Director with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), with responsibility for the bank’s operations in Northern Nigeria.
- He currently serves on the boards of several blue-chip companies in Nigeria including the Nigeria Breweries Plc and is Chairman of the Board of Redtech Limited, a member of the Heirs Holdings Group.
Gloria Danjuma
She is a dynamic and result-oriented professional with a proven track record of leadership and strategic vision across multiple industries. She has over 20 years of experience driving growth, maximizing shareholder value, and leading organisations through periods of transformation.
She is the current chairperson of NAL/Comet Group, Unitrust Insurance Limited and Wheatbaker Investment Properties Limited. She is also a Board Member of the TY Danjuma Family Office, Novotel Hotel Port Harcourt and a member of TY Danjuma Foundation Board of Trustees.
Emmanuel Etuh
He is a professional and business executive whose experience covers law, finance and operations across diverse industries. He currently serves as Executive Director, Corporate Services at Lighthouse Capital, overseeing the operational aspects of the business, including investments, client service, risk and technology. He also serves on the board of Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc and Tak Agro & Chemicals Limited. He commenced his career at Banwo & Ighodalo and later served a stint at the International Bar Association, London. He also served as a lead transactor at TMD Advisory Services focused on the origination, structuring and execution of financial advisory mandates in West and East Africa. He is the founding partner at Haute and Peers LP, providing strategic, corporate and commercial advice to technology, media and telecoms players in the Nigerian market.
New management
The new Board has also also ratified the appointment of the new management team led by Obafemi Banigbe as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company to lead the Company through this transition stage and take it on the path of recovery.
Recall that 9mobile recently announced the appointment of Banigbe as CEO.
The reconstitution of the Board of Directors and the Executive leadership of the company has brought the 9mobile transformation programme to a momentous phase in readiness to compete strongly in the market.
The House of Representatives descended into a rowdy session on Tuesday during an emergency plenary called to reconsider the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The chaos was triggered by a motion to rescind the bill’s earlier passage from December 23, 2025, which had mandated the real-time electronic transmission of election results to the IReV portal.
During plenary, Francis Waive, chairman of the house of representatives committee on rules and business, moved a motion for the house to reverse its decision on the bill which was passed on December 23, 2025.
When Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, put the motion to a voice vote, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes”, but he ruled that the ayes had it.
The ruling triggered protests from lawmakers, who began hollering in objection. Abbas subsequently called for an executive session, but the proposal was also rejected.
Despite the resistance, the speaker moved the house into an executive session.
When the green chamber passed the electoral act in December, it adopted a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s result viewing portal (IReV).
Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu of being behind the attempt to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Thursday, shortly after he returned from a trip to Cairo, Egypt.
El-Rufai made the allegation while speaking with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who paid him a solidarity visit at his residence on Thursday night.
According to him, operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, working with the Department of State Services, DSS, and not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, confronted him at the airport and attempted to take him into custody.
“It turned out that it’s the ICPC that procured DSS to abduct me and hands me over to them. The ICPC has never invited me.
“We just understand that it’s the ICPC not EFCC that’s responsible for what happened today and the ICPC chairman is acting of the direct order of Nuhu Ribadu,” El-Rufai said.
Responding, Atiku expressed sympathy with the former governor and stressed the need for political unity ahead of the next general election.
The ex-Vice President noted that opposition forces must organize themselves to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
“We must come together and form very viable opposition because Tinubu is determined to turn Nigeria into a one party state,” Atiku said.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has officially filed a notice of appeal challenging his conviction and multiple sentences.
Kanu insisted that the trial was riddled with fundamental legal errors and amounted to a miscarriage of justice.
In the notice of appeal dated February 4, 2026, Kanu said he was appealing against his conviction and sentences on seven counts, including terrorism-related offences, for which he received five life sentences and additional prison terms after being found guilty on November 20, 2025.
“I, Nnamdi Kanu, the Appellant, having been convicted and sentenced… do hereby give notice of appeal against my conviction,” the document stated.
Kanu was convicted for offences including “committing an act preparatory to or in furtherance of an act of terrorism,” “making a broadcast… with intent to intimidate the population,” and “being the leader and member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed organisation in Nigeria,” among others.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, delivered the judgment on November 20, 2025, sentencing Kanu to five life terms for terrorism-related offences, 20 years’ imprisonment for being the leader of the proscribed IPOB, and five years’ imprisonment with no option of fine for importing a radio transmitter without a licence.
In his grounds of appeal, the IPOB leader accused the trial court of failing to resolve what he described as a “foundational disruption of the original trial process” following the 2017 military operation at his Afara-Ukwu residence.
“The learned trial judge erred in law by failing to resolve the procedural and competence consequences of the foundational disruption of the original trial process in September 2017,” Kanu argued.
He also contended that the court proceeded to trial and judgment while his preliminary objection challenging the competence of the proceedings remained unresolved.
“The learned trial judge did not hear or determine the objection,” the appeal document stated, adding that judgment was delivered “while the objection remained pending and undetermined.”
Kanu further faulted the court for delivering judgment while his bail application was still pending, arguing that this affected the fairness of the trial process.
He also claimed that the trial court convicted him under a law that had already been repealed, stating that “the learned trial judge erred in law by convicting and sentencing the Appellant under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, notwithstanding its repeal by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, prior to judgment.”
Kanu further argued that he was subjected to double jeopardy, contrary to Section 36(9) of the 1999 Constitution, after being retried on facts he said had earlier been nullified by the Court of Appeal.
He also complained that he was denied fair hearing, claiming that he was not allowed to file or present a final written address before judgment was delivered.
Among the reliefs sought, Kanu asked the Court of Appeal to allow the appeal, quash his conviction and sentences, and “discharge and acquit the Appellant in respect of all the counts.”
He also informed the appellate court of his desire to be present at the hearing of the appeal, stating, “I want to be present at the hearing of the appeal because I may be conducting the appeal in person.”
Kanu is currently being held at a correctional facility in Sokoto State, after his application to be transferred to a different facility in either Niger or Nasarawa State was denied.
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