₦airaland Forum

Foremost indigenous auto manufacturer, Dr Innocent Chukwuma, has dismissed the story that he would soon go on trial for forgery, saying it was a mere gambit by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), its alleged sponsors, to dodge a judgement debt of N15 billion.

Chukwuma had, since 2012, been at loggerheads with the bank over a business transaction gone sour, involving his company, Innoson Group and the bank, which had been in and out of the courts.

The auto manufacturer had since been claiming that the series of court actions that had resulted from the sour business relationship culminated in the bank owing him N15billion in judgement debt, and for which it was now trying to circumvent paying by blackmailing him and his company through a sponsored court process.

A statement, released by Cornel Osigwe, Public Relations and Media Consultant, Innoson Group, urged the public to discountenance the report, which went viral in the online media, as another blackmail, which would not work.

It said: “Our attention has been drawn to a news report published by various online media that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has authorised the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF) to commence the prosecution of a Lagos businessman, Innocent Chukwuma, his company, Innoson Nigeria Limited, and four others for alleged forgery. Ordinarily, we would not have dignified this news report with a response but in a nation where silence may be seen as an admission of guilt, we therefore come out to state the true position of things.

“Although there is a charge pending against Innoson Nigeria Ltd, the charge is a trumped up. To this end, the police have through its letter of 17th February 2016 discontinued the charge in order to further investigate the matter. Also, Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation through paragraph 10 of its opinion referenced DPPF 30/03/2016 contained in the policy file of the Ministry of Justice directed that the charge be discontinued and the file sent back to the police to further investigate the matter.

“The court never ordered or directed the Attorney General of the Federation to take over the case since and more importantly no court in Nigeria has such power over the AGF.

“Already Innoson has over N15billion judgment in its favour against Guaranty Trust Bank (who is sponsoring the charge) in suit no Fhc/AWK/CS/139/2012, suit no Fhc/L/CS/603/2006 and Appeal no CA/I/258/2011 and Appeal no CA/E/288/2014. The charge is to blackmail Innoson and to force it to forgo the judgments sums of over N15Billion.

“The futility of the charge and the fact that it is a trumped one is demonstrated by the following:

a) GTB kept and continues to keep a register where all its customers sign for every bill of lading it collected from it. Innoson signed for all the bills of lading it collected from GTB including the ones in dispute in GTB's register. During the investigation and till date GTB failed and refused to produce the register on the ground that it was destroyed by fire that gutted its office;

b) in suit no Fhc/AWK/CS/139/2012 which was on excess and unlawful charges GTB imposed on Innoson's current account with it, GTB raised the issue of forged Bills of lading but could not establish that and Innoson got a judgment in excess of N4.7Billion against GTB therein;

c) the bills of lading which GTB is parading as forged is not more than five and the goods imported with them is not up to N100Million. The question therefore is, how did the sum become N2.4Billion? What are contained in the containers evidenced by the Bills of lading in issue that is worth N2.4Billion?

“We therefore urge the general public to disregard the news publication as this is a smear campaign to undermine the integrity of Dr Innocent Chukwuma OFR.”


http://whirlwindnews.com/news/detail.php?id=4696&title=Innoson:-Forgery-case,-cover-up-by-GTB-from-paying-my-N15billion-debt

By Azuka Onwuka

How time flies! On May 27, 2017, Lagos State will be 50 years old. It seemed like yesterday when the state was created by Gen. Yakubu Gowon. In February, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, inaugurated a planning committee for the golden jubilee celebration that has Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, and industrialist, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, as co-chairmen.

Ambode, who faced an avalanche of criticisms immediately after assumption of office on May 29, 2015, gradually overcame the teething troubles and began to get some positive press, especially with the action he has taken in the areas of infrastructure, security, transport, among others.

But he seems to be cutting ties with some key Lagos messages that will help him achieve better results in the long run by reshaping how people view Lagos. For example, when was the last time you heard “Eko o ni baje!” (Lagos will not spoil)? It seems to have gone with Ambode’s predecessor, Mr Babatunde Fashola. This was an expression that was on the lips of most Lagosians for many years. Why was it jettisoned by Ambode? Maybe, because he wants to create his own slogan. This reminds us of the American expression: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That same fate has also befallen the Spirit of Lagos campaign. The first time I saw the campaign of the Spirit of Lagos, I fell in love with it. It was a campaign that sought to change the orientation of Lagosians by making them take ownership of their environment, by doing the right thing, by believing that Lagosians are not bad people, by allowing their conscience to talk to them when they want to drop trash on the road or cross the expressway or beat the traffic light. These are simple issues that most of us don’t even pay attention to. But they have a serious effect on the state.

Most people assume that Lagos is a “jungle” where only the fittest survive, where nobody cares whether you are alive or dead, hungry or thirsty, or unhappy or happy. Everybody is hurrying off to somewhere without caring about the next person. People get knocked down on the road and life goes on for others around the scene. People get robbed in the traffic and nobody attempts to help. This is the dominant narrative that most people want everyone to believe.

But is that the whole picture or is it just the picture that will appeal to storytellers and those who cast newspaper headlines?
First is that Lagos is not as wild and unfeeling as is portrayed. Second is that even in cities like New York and Johannesburg where people are killed or robbed at a much higher rate than Lagos, marketing and public relations messages are couched and sustained almost on a continuous basis to blunt the portrayal of the cities in a bad light. In some of the celebrated cities of the world, you cannot walk in many streets once it is dark. Even in broad daylight, you cannot walk in some streets without being robbed. You cannot flag down a taxi and enter it without running a huge risk of robbery – you have to use only recommended taxis. But these cities don’t have the image of “jungle” because the authorities do not leave the fate of the cities to the vagaries of word-of-mouth advertising. They make a conscious plan to burnish the image of the city or state, celebrate its positive sides, and inspire the citizens to buy into the vision of the state.

Each of us has had some sweet experiences in Lagos that made us know the other side of Lagos, but the stereotyping of Lagos is usually allowed to dominate the discourse on Lagos.

While returning from work some 12 years ago from Victoria Island, I experienced the overheating of my car on Marina Bridge, on Lagos Island. I parked by the side of the bridge, opened the bonnet to see what the problem was. Another man suddenly parked in front of me, and asked me what the problem was. I told him the car was overheating. He opened his boot and handed me a four-litre can of water, and told me to sort out the problem fast and get out of that area because it was not safe for me. He left the can with me and drove off. I waited shortly for the car to cool down a bit, poured the water in the radiator and drove off just as some fierce-looking men noticed me and began approaching me. I was thankful to this stranger whose face I would never recall.

Again just last year, I decided to get to Yaba through the Third Mainland Bridge rather than Ikorodu Road that I was used to. I was driving from Ikeja. When I got to the Adekunle junction in Yaba, the traffic light just changed to red. I stopped. No car was in front of me. I was on the far right side of the road. On my left a commercial minibus (popularly called danfo) had also stopped. I did not know if there was a practice at that junction for motorists to turn on red. I asked the driver of the bus if motorists going right were allowed to turn on red. He said yes. I thanked him and slowly turned right into Herbert Macaulay Road.

Two LASTMA officials, who had hidden inside a filling station at the junction, emerged immediately and stood in front of my vehicle. I wound down and began my explanation. While we were at it, the danfo driver stopped in front of me and all the passengers came down, some explaining, some pleading, some shouting at the LASTMA officials. They told the LASTMA officials that they were the ones who misinformed me. My eyes became misty over this show of care from complete strangers. The LASTMA officials were overwhelmed seeing all the occupants of a commercial bus, including the driver, suspending their journey to defend a stranger. They let me go.

The driver later explained to me that what he meant was that one could turn right but it would be after the light had changed to green. He said he was calling me when I began to move but I didn’t hear.

Even though the driver had “misinformed” me, the driver could have driven off and left me to my fate. Anybody who knows the typical Lagos commercial driver and passengers would tell you that time is gold to them.

Therefore, Lagosians indeed care. You can see that care when a house is burning and people risk their lives to save the lives of strangers and their property. You can see that care when a house collapses and Lagosians use their bare hands to dig into the rubble in search of trapped human beings. You can see it when a car is burning and passers-by stop, and use fire extinguishers, water, sand or anything available to save the car. You see it when children are standing by the roadside and a pedestrian or motorist stops other vehicles to get the children across the road safely.

The problem with Nigeria is that we don’t allow any programme to last long enough to become internalised and effective. A new government means a change of policies. The Spirit of Lagos was one programme that was gradually taking root in the psyche of Lagosians before a change of government took it off the media. Such a programme needs to be resuscitated. It is even important at a time like this when Lagos is planning its 50th anniversary.

Lagos has a lot of potential. It needs a campaign like the Spirit of Lagos that will seep into the consciousness of Lagosians and change their attitude and narrative about Lagos. That will help Lagos to rise to become among the celebrated cities of the world. It is possible.

–Twitter @BrandAzuka

http://www.punchng.com/what-happened-to-the-spirit-of-lagos/

I don't know whaT has happened to Gtb. It seems the new MD Segun Agbaje does not understand the GTBank's culture. The bank no be am again.

CBN seems to be doing paddy-paddy with the banks.

Why is Guaranty Trust Bank always mentioned in most business deals that go bad or nasty these days? That was not the case before. In the past, one hardly heard the bank involve in nasty contracts with customers. It used to have a wonderful relationship with its customers.

In 2010, Hi Media Ltd (owner of HiTv) lost the English Premier League to Multichoice because the bank was not able to provide bank guaranty to Hi Media. That EPL loss made Hi Media to speedily go down, gasping for breath. The next year, GTB obtained a court order to take over Hi Media. Consequently, the Nigerian-owned HITV died with the hundreds of jobs and all the investment, giving way to South African Multichoice (owner of DSTV) to have a monopoly, increasing fees at will and treating Nigerians anyhow.

In 2012 when Bi-Courtney lost the concession for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, GTB was mentioned in the deal.

In 2014, GTB gave the court incomplete information and got an ex parte motion to freeze all the bank accounts of Nigeria’s first indigenous automaker, Innoson Group, in 18 banks. Its mission was to kill the company and the thousands of jobs it provides. That lasted for 9 months, until a court vacated that ill-informed motion in June this year and awarded Innoson damages amounting to over 5 billion naira for all that it lost. A small company would have died if subjected to such harrowing experience. In addition, GTB had made some illegal and secret deductions of about 700 million naira from Innoson’s account with them, which Innoson only found out when it audited its account.

In 2013, GTB secured a court order shutting down BSS Steel Rolling Mills Ltd, Abese, Ogun State, and the company remained under lock and key from November 28, 2013 to May 15, 2015 (2 years) when the company was able to vacate the order through a Federal High Court in Lagos. What was such a shutdown meant to achieve? Life or death to such a company and the jobs it provides?

Remember the young man in the video that went into his GTB branch and stripped down to his underpants in protest over the illegal deductions made by GTB on his account, creating a scene and bank PR for the bank?

There are many more examples of these attempts to wreck businesses and dreams. This is not what GTB was known for in the past. But these days, it seems to be commonplace.

What has happened to GTB? Tayo Aderinokun will be turning in his grave. Fola Adeola will be gnashing his teeth over what their beautiful brand has become.

Illegal Deductions by Banks: Time for CBN to Act
By Abimbola Adegoke

Have you ever audited your bank account? You may need to do that to ascertain that illegal deductions are not being made on it.

Recently, a curious but unfortunate video surfaced on the social media. In the video a young man, who had discovered that N25,000 had been deducted from his Guaranty Trust Bank account, stripped to his underpants in the bank. He created a lot of fuss in the bank until the bank staff gave him back the N25,000.

In the same vein, auto-manufacturing group, Innoson Group, and Guaranty Trust Bank have been having a running battle over illegal deductions. According to reports in the media, Innoson discovered that GTB imposed excess and unlawful charges in its current account in the sum of N560 Million and was demanding it to pay this to it with the accrued interest thereon. GTB refused this request. As a result Innoson commenced suit No: FHC/AWK/CS/139/2012 against GTB at the Federal High Court, Awka and obtained judgement in excess of N4.7 billion against GTB.

GTB appealed against the judgment to the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division in Appeal No: CA/E/288/2013. The Court of Appeal Enugu in a considered ruling ordered GTB to pay the judgment debt of N5.7 billion, inclusive of the accrued interest and any interest that would subsequently accrue thereon into an interest-yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the court.

This illegal-deduction malady is not peculiar to GTB. It seems to be a common practice among banks. Money is surreptitiously deducted from the accounts of customers in amounts that they may not notice. Over a period of time, this becomes a large amount of money. Most times the amount deducted on a monthly basis is a percentage of the amount of money in the customer’s account. For accounts that do not have large amount of money in them, the amount deducted usually seems insignificant, but when aggregated as regards the number of customers that suffer such deductions unknowingly every month, it amounts to a lot.

This illegal deductions mechanism is a source of boosting the monthly earnings of banks and the target set for bank staff and branch managers. Consequently, bank customers who are supposed to earn some interest for keeping their funds with their banks end up getting fleeced secretly.

According to investigations, this is a strategy used to shore up deposits by banks. Bank staff and branches are given impossible monthly targets. By hook or by crook, staff and branches are expected to meet these targets. If within a given period of time they don’t meet such targets, there are penalties, which may include persistent verbal reprimand, loss of financial benefits, demotion, non-promotion, loss of position, or sack. Nobody wants to experience any of these, no matter how mild. Those who meet their targets are recognized and rewarded with many goodies, including cash gifts, car gifts, and promotions. In addition to this, women especially, are unnecessarily made victims of sexual harassment in their bid to rake in huge deposits. Young and beautiful girls are also given priority in bank recruitment because of the belief that they will use their youthfulness and beauty to attract men that will open accounts and do high bank transactions.

What is surprising is that the Central Bank of Nigeria does not seem to see this fraudulent act of deducting money from customers’ accounts as being serious enough to attract very strict penalty. Does one need to have the financial muscle and patience of an Innoson or the dramatic audacity of the stripping customer in the video to get reprieve?

If anytime a bank is discovered to have illegally deducted money from a customer, the bank is meant to repay the amount and pay a 100 percent interest on it from the day of the deduction to the present day and publish a full page advertorial of apology to the customer in three national newspapers, the bank would not want to attempt such an unethical practice. Matters involving illegal deductions should not be left to the courts to decide. Banks bank on using their financial muscle to wear customers out in courts and deny them justice. The CBN should have a committee that investigates illegal deductions, and once it is established that a bank is guilty of it, the full punishment should be meted out to it. A bank that is found to have illegally deducted money from customers’ accounts on three occasions should also face the risk of having its CEO suspended or removed.

What is the difference between taking one million naira from someone’s bag and taking the same one million naira from someone’s bank account by the person’s bank? Both should be seen as acts of stealing. What is the difference between the act of hacking into someone’s account and taking a million naira and a bank deducting a million naira from its customer’s account without the customer’s knowledge? Both should be treated as acts of fraud.

There is no justification for taking what belongs to another without the person’s knowledge or notice. That the money taken was already in the possession and care of the bank does not make it a lighter offence. On the contrary, it makes it a heavier offence. Banks are meant to be the bastion of integrity and trust. Banks have no product to sell. They merely collect cash deposits from different people and organisations and lend them to those who need them at an interest.

There are also other ways through which banks fleece their customers. Recently, a newspaper published the story of actress Gloria Norbert-Young who was alleged to have created a scene in her bank over some money that was not paid out to her by an ATM but was charged to her account. She had been pursuing the matter since December 2014 with no result, and decided to express her anger.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has a duty to protect bank customers from the banks. The CBN should stop treating the banks with kid gloves on the issue of illegal deductions. That the practice has continued among the banks is a testimony that the current CBN’s measures are ineffective.

Banking is a profession known for trust and integrity. It is said that integrity is what you do when nobody is watching. It is not smartness to steal the customer’s money when he or she is not watching.

Also the desperation of all the banks to be seen and called the biggest bank must be discouraged by the CBN and other organisations that give banking awards. Such awards make banks to drive their staff into prostitution, high blood pressure, heart attack, and unethical practices. Banks are always flaunting awards on the cover of newspapers. Banks should be rated by their quality of service and customer satisfaction, not by size and might.

Banks should be profitable but should not be driven by the overweening ambition to be excessively more profitable than the people and organisations they serve to the point of desperation. After all, they have no money of their own or products. It is the money of individuals and organisations that they keep in trust.

-- Abimbola Adegoke is a public affairs commentator based in Ibadan, Oyo State