nTel CEO resigns, denies Skye Bank takeover

Kamar Abass, who formerly held the position of managing director/CEO of n-Tel Tuesday resigned.
Contrary to reports that the newest telco was under threat to be taken over by Skye Bank as a result of failed loan repayment, the company says Abass’ resignation was due to health conditions that need medical attention and not because n-Tel was in any sort of debt troubles.
In a statement signed by Osondu Nwokoro, director, external affairs, the company said: “Abass has stepped down from his role as CEO due to urgent personal and medical considerations. The NatCom board has named Abhulime Ehiagwina as Acting CEO and the company will embark on the search for a substantive CEO in due course.”
On the issue of the Skye Bank threat, BusinessDay sources at n-Tel say no such thing has come to the hearing of the company and Skye Bank has not written to n-Tel about such an issue.
“What was reported was that the management of the bank wrote to Yemi Osinbajo, acting President, detailing how Tunde Ayeni, its chairman, used loans from the bank to acquire different government properties including Nitel, however, neither Skye Bank nor the Acting President has written to n-tel about any issue,” our source says.
Industry watchers say Kamar Abass who joined the Board of Directors of NatCom in 2015 as the CEO of ntel and led the company through launch on April 8, 2016, with operations in Lagos and Abuja, and then subsequently in Port Harcourt by December 2016, did the best he could for the company to gain relevance in Nigeria’s growing yet challenging telecoms market.
Abhulime Ehiagwina, prior to joining nTel as the acting CEO, was chief financial officer and board member of Helios Towers Nigeria, where he oversaw the Finance and IT functions.
He helped grow the company EBITDA by over 300 percent in 3 years and raised a $250 million Eurobond, first non-bank or Oil/Gas Company out of Nigeria, and also sat on the board of InterSwitch as a non-executive director during this period.

Jumoke Akiyode