By Kayode Adeoti
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, last Tuesday dismissed over N11billion debt suit by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) against the Olofa of Offa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, National Pilot reports.
The first class monarch was said to have obtained the loan through his two companies, Zarm Poultry & Feeds Mills Limited and Zarm Stores Limited.
In a bid to recover the alleged fund, AMCON dragged the monarch before the court but the monarch was left off the hook by the court, last Tuesday.
In an exclusive chat last night with the counsel to the Olofa, Lawal Rabana (SAN) he confirmed the development saying the suit has been completed and judgement delivered in favour of his client.
According to him, “the matter is dismissed and closed forever.”
Reacting to the figure quoted by AMCON, Rabana described it as scandalous and a plot to blackmail Oba Esuwoye. He added that it is not out of place for a business man to take bank loan in order to run his businesses.
“The money quoted was just a cheap blackmail and scandalous. Who is that business man in Nigeria that doesn’t borrow from bank? There is a loan from Central Bank for agriculture and it has a moratorium period. All those propaganda was just to scandalise him.
“As a successful business man in this country, you must have a loan facility, who is that business man that doesn’t operate on loan? All those cheap blackmail never work, there is no case in court involving him again, it’s closed and dismissed forever,” the monarch’s counsel submitted.
Similarly, the media aide of Olofa, Dr. David Binta Oloyede corroborated Rabana saying the amount quoted by AMCON is “outrageous”.
Oloyede who also doubles as the Head of Department, Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, condemned the agency for failing to carry out proper investigation.
“The over N11bn has nothing to do with the Olofa and he does not even owe any one such money. He had issues with AMCON, and the agency has failed to do its work properly.
“The case has been on, not just recently, there have been series of petitions as regards it. There is this facility he took as a business man, but I can confidently say, we are on top of it,” Oloyede stressed.
In the suit filed by the counsel of AMCON, Osayaba Omorodion Giwa Osagie, it was alleged that pursuant to its enabling act, AMCON sometimes in 2012, purchased certain eligible bank assets of the former Oceanic Bank in the sum of N1,859,654,737.00 and N4,586,369,001.47 respectively.
It further alleged that as of April, 2017, Zarm Poultry & Feeds Mills were indebted to AMCON to the tune of N3,027,486,610.59 being the unpaid principal and interest on a term loan facility of N2.3billion that was given to the company sometimes in 2006 by the former Oceanic Bank to finance capital expenditure on its farm at Odonla, Ikorodu, Lagos.
The term loan was secured by the execution of a deed debenture over fixed and floating assets of the company, which included the execution of a deed legal mortgage over Plots 407 and 408, Odonla industrial Estate, Opposite LSDPC Housing Estate Odonla, Ikorodu Lagos.
As at 8 April, 2017, Zarm Store Limited was also alleged to be indebted to AMCON to the tune of N8,253,512,349.19 being the unpaid principal and interests on a restructured term loan facility of N3,055,764,554.71 granted to Zarm Stores Limited sometime in 2009.
The loan was subsequently further restructured to N4,462,589,667.33 to accommodate the debts arising from unpaid facilities granted Zarm Stores Limited’s other affiliates besides the one of Zarm Poultry and Feeds Mills Limited.
The further restructured term loan was secured by a legal mortgage over a piece of land measuring 818.058 square meters, being Block 1B Osborne Phase 1, Lagos and the personal guarantee of the monarch who is the Chief Executive Officer and also the majority subscriber to the shares of the two companies.
It was further alleged that the defendants had not made any payments since the debts were assigned to AMCON, in spite of several discussions and negotiations between the parties.
The period stipulated for the repayment of the banking facilities had since elapsed.
It was also gathered that the AMCON is praying for a declaration that Zarm Poultry and Feeds Mills Limited “ is indebted to it in the sum of N3,027,486,610.59 with interest thereon at the rate of 21% per annum from April 9, 2017 until judgment and thereafter at the rate of 10% until total liquidation, among other prayers.”
