₦airaland Forum

Dangote, Ibrahim, others reject CBN’s debtors’ list
By Simeon EbuluPublished TodayNewsRating: Unrated
Customers ask CBN to remove names from list

Aliko Dangote Some customers of the five troubled banks fought back yesterday, accusing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of posting bogus debts against their names.

Seasoned industrialist Aliko Dangote, Group Managing Director of Global Fleet Industries Limited Jimoh Ibrahim and Rockson Engineering Managing Director Joseph Arumemi-Johnson rejected the CBN’s classification of their companies’ debts as "non-performing".

Besides, Dangote said he is not a director of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited, which is owing Intercontinental Bank Plc, N8,836,682,542.69. Ibrahim threatened to sue the CBN to court. Arumemi-Johnson warned that the apex bank’s action could have dire consequences on the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP).

They were reacting to a CBN newspaper advertorial which alleged that they are "non-performing debtors".

The advertorial published yesterday alleged that Dangote is a director of Dansa. His holding company, Dangote Industries Limited, is said to be owing Oceanic International Bank Plc N2,526,460,000. Ibrahim’s Global Fleet’s debt to the bank is put at N14.7billion. Rockson Engineering is said to be owing Intercontinental N36,989,685,692.84.

In a statement last night, the management of Dangote Industries denied that its proprietor is a director of Dansa.

It said: "We wish to state for the records that Alhaji Aliko Dangote is neither a director nor a shareholder of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited as averred. This is verifiable through the company registration documents held by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) wherein directors of the said company are listed as:

Alhaji Sani Dangote, Alhaji Mohammed Dangote and Ali Dangote.

"It is important to note that Alhaji Aliko Dangote is not the same as Ali Dangote as erroneously published in the CBN advertorial. Ali Dangote is the son of Alhaji Sani Dangote.

"Form CAC7 of the Corporate Affairs Commission shows Ali Dangote’s signature, which is very different from Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s signature. Furthermore, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has no part in the management and running of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited.

"A letter has been written to the Central Bank of Nigeria to correct this misrepresentation and to request the removal of the name of Alhaji Aliko Dangote from the list of non-performing debtors of Intercontinental Bank Plc.

"With reference to Dangote Industries Limited’s indebtedness to Oceanic Bank Plc to the value of N2,526,460,000.00, we are in dispute over the charges and are very close to resolution.

"A company of our size will take on facilities from bankers and financiers in the course of our business. As a responsible organisation, we deliver to our obligations in servicing these loans.

"It is on record that our credit rating remains admirable and our bankers have confidence in our ability to meet our obligations."

Speaking with reporters in Abuja, Ibrahim said CBN lied in saying he owes Oceanic N14.7billion, noting that such a blunder could dent his image as an international businessman.

Questioning CBN’s description of the debt as "non-performing", Ibrahim said he had always serviced the debt, which, according to him, stands at N9billion – going by letters sent to him in May by the bank’s management.

Brandishing copies of the letters to disclaim the CBN publication, Ibrahim said: "I expect the CBN to write a retraction. If they don’t, I’m sorry I have to go to court. First, the CBN is not my regulator. As far as I am concerned, I want to continue doing my business here and this is why I feel embarrassed. My agreement is with the bank."

Ibrahim, who said it was incumbent on all debtors to pay their debts, chided the CBN for being in a hurry to release the list instead of carrying out a thorough audit of the banks.

"In-as-much as I am not out to frustrate the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, or any other person for that matter, I believe the CBN is too much in a hurry. Our loans are performing.

"I believe there should have been an interface between the CBN and the customers before publishing the list. My intention is that the CBN should have got the figures right and separate performing loans from the non-performing ones. Maybe, this will be the beginning of the forensic examination Sanusi said he was going to do.

"What Sanusi has done would have been commended if the figures have been accurate. When we keep paying all these debts back, I don’t see why my name should be put on that list.

"Debtors have no reason not to pay because there are so many ways the banks can get their money back. There is no crime in borrowing and the company provided collateral security for all money borrowed, the banks earn income from the loan that improves their balance sheet."

Copies of the letters signed by Mr. Robinson Ofometa, Assistant General Manager, Corporate Banking Group and Mr. Oti Ikomi, Executive Director, Corporate Banking Group in Oceanic Bank, indicated that Global Fleet’s indebtedness to the bank is slightly above N8billion.

The letters indicated that the firm paid over N2.5billion in May to service the debt.

One of the letters, entitled: "Outstanding Indebtedness" and addressed to Ibrahim, reads: "We refer to the outstanding facility sums on your various account viz:

Account Name

Global Fleet Oil & Gas Ltd Global Fleet Industries Fleet Hotels Ltd

NICON Group

Account No:

Bar. Jimoh Ibrahim

0011201008448 0011101028564 0011201008438 0011101016319 0013003000359

"We write to acknowledge receipt of value of =N=3,000,000,000.00 (three billion naira only) to date on the outstanding on your facilities with the bank.

"Subject to getting value for the =N=l,000,000,000.00 cheque payment today May 18, 2009, the total outstanding on your facilities will now be =N=8,000,000,000.00 (Eight billion naira only).

"We thank you and look forward to a most mutually beneficial relationship even as it is our hope that other payments necessary to fully extinguish these facilities will follow soon."

The second letter, dated May 18, also reads: "We refer to our letter of December 30, 2008 in respect of the above:

"Please note that the total outstanding on your facilities with the Bank through these accounts:

Global Fleet Oil & Gas Ltd

0011201008448

Global Fleet Industries

0011101028564

Fleet Hotels Ltd

0011201008438

NICON Group

0011101016319

Bar. Jimoh Ibrahim

0013003000359 is now N9,000,000,000.00 (Nine billion naira only). This follows the receipt of value in December 2008 for the two (2) Union Bank (UBN) drafts and in May 2009 for a UBN cheque viz:

Draft # 00090011 Draft # 00094509 Cheque # 00090033 N1,000,000,000.00 (One billion naira only) N1,000,000, 000.00 (One billion naira only) N1,000,000,000.00 (One billion naira only)

"Find attached the account statement reflecting these payments while we look forward to other payments as promised by your good self in your determination to fully extinguish the outstanding.

"We look forward to a most mutually beneficial relationship. Thank you."

Faulting the CBN publication at a joint briefing in Lagos with Rockson Engineering Chairman, Senator Aniete Okon, Arumemi-Johnson said the company owes Intercontinental N14,423,291,589.49 and not N36,989,685,692.84.

CBN, he said, "grossly erred" in its figure as to the amount Rockson owing the bank and had badly misrepresented the company as its debt is not non-performing.

Drama as Oni’s nominee can’t name Taraba Governor
By Odunayo OgunmolaPublished TodayNewsRating: Unrated
Amild drama played out on the floor of the Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday at the screening of commissioner-nominees: one of them, Mr. Segun Ilori, could not tell who the Governor of Taraba State is.

Ilori, who served as the Chief of Staff to Governor Segun Oni between June 2007 and February 2009, appeared before the lawmakers with three other nominees: Dr. Femi Thomas (Ijero), Dr. Rufus Ajayi (Ilejemeje) and Mr. Segun Olanrewaju (Oye). He is from Ido/Osi Local Government Area.

When the question was asked by the Assembly member representing Ikole 1 Constituency, Hon. Adebayo Morakinyo, Ilori paused for some minutes, scratched his head and admitted that he did not know the Governor’s name.

Morakinyo noted that having travelled with Oni during his stint as the Chief of Staff, Ilori ought to be familiar with governors of other states.

The Governor of Taraba State is Mr. Danbaba Suntai.

The Assembly Deputy Speaker, Mr. Saliu Adeoti, also grilled Ilori on the role he played in the fracas that ensued on the floor of the House when Oni presented this year’s budget on December 30, 2008.

Ilori said he mediated in the crisis of confidence that trailed the budget presentation and doused the tension generated by it.

But the former Chief of Staff received an ovation from the lawmakers when he flawlessly recited the Ekiti anthem in local dialect.

Ajayi, who held the Youth and Sports portfolio before the Court of Appeal judgment sacked Oni, could not satisfactorily answer questions on sports.

Another nominee, who appeared before the lawmakers on Tuesday, Mr. Oluwafemi Ige (Efon), could not also give the names of the Governors of Taraba and Abia states.

The four nominees were grilled for almost four hours at yesterday’s plenary, which was presided over by Speaker Olatunji Odeyemi.

The nominees fielded questions on their suitability and competence to implement government’s programmes and policies.

Addressing the nominees, Odeyemi said the House would communicate their confirmation or rejection to them in due course.

But the House rejected a proposal from Oni to appoint 24 Special Advisers.

Rather, it approved the appointment of 16 Special Advisers –one for each of the 16 local government areas.

The lawmakers cited a lean treasury brought about by the global economic meltdown as the reason for rejecting Oni’s proposal.

They said the realities made it imperative to have a manageable state executive council (Exco) that would not drain the state’s resources.

Twelve nominees have appeared before the lawmakers. Four of them were screened on Tuesday.

The last set of the nominees who are expected to be screened today are Mr. Biodun Bamiteko (Moba), Mr. George Akawa (Ado) and Dr. Gboyega Isijola (Ekiti South West).

hollandis:
There is no mention of sanusi anywhere

Sanusi=CBN. Read the articles and do the math

Pete Edochie does not deserve police orderly. Who the hell is he and what has he done for Nigeria?

Orderlies: Ekwueme, Anyaoku Exempted from IGP Order
08.20.2009

Add To Favorites
Print This Article
Post Comment

Nigeria’s former Vice-President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and former Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, have been exempted from a recent directive by the Inspector General of Police, (IGP), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, on withdrawal of police orderlies.
Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Uzor Amakulor, who spoke to a   cross section of newsmen in Awka, yesterday, said the exemption was in deference to their esteemed positions in the society and contributions therein, as compared to others who move around with a retinue of policemen harassing and intimidating innocent citizens.
He said the  order was being complied with in his command and cases of those seen still moving around with police escorts were isolated. “We have peculiar cases like the former Vice-President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who come into the state often. We cannot withdraw their orderlies, because they are the people that matter in the society,” he said.
He also gave an instance with the ace movie actor, Pete Edochie who was kidnapped in Nkpor, an Onitsha suburb last Sunday, saying  if he had had police orderlies, perhaps he may not have fallen victim to kidnappers.





Post Comment
  All comments

United Alliance Loan Performing, Says Intercontinental
By Emele Onu, 08.20.2009

Add To Favorites
Print This Article
Post Comment

THISDAY Special Release

The new management of Intercontinental Bank led by Joseph Ajewole has declared the N16 billion loan granted United Alliance Company of Nigeria Limited, in which the Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Aig-Imoukhuede, and his deputy have interest, as performing, contrary to advertorial by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in some newspapers yesterday, which classified the credit as non- performing.
Intercontinental Bank in a letter dated August 19 and addressed to the Chief Executive of United Alliance, Mr Chizoba Ufoeze, said that the facility granted the latter has been performing. This development has absolved United Alliance and the two Access Bank chiefs of involvement in the huge non-performing loans of Intercontinental, which the CBN put at about N211 billion - representing 28 per cent of the bad loans of the five troubled banks.
In the letter from Intercontinental Bank to the Chief Executive of United Alliance, jointly signed by the Head, Remedial Management of the bank, Rasaq Yusuff and the Group Executive, Credit Risk, Yemi Ogunfeyimi, Intercontinental Bank stated: “Please be informed that you are up to date on both principal and accrued interest due on the account as at today.”
Intercontinental Bank in the letter, which was obtained by THISDAY acknowledged the receipts of payments made recently on the loan by United Alliance. The payments included N170 million paid to Intercontinental by United Alliance on July 3, this year; the sum of N725 million paid to Intercontinental on July 15, 2009; N440 million paid the bank on August 11, 2009 and N360 million also paid to Intercontinental on August 10 this year.
The CBN had published the list of the big debtors to the banks to compel them to clear the indebtedness without further delay, failing which, it said the banks would take all appropriate legal actions to ensure repayments.
The executives of five banks (Bartholomew Ebong of Union Bank, Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank and Okey Nwosu of Finbank, Sebastian Adigwe of Afribank and Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank) were fired by the banking watchdog on the ground of “being principal causes of financial instability in their banks and for acting in a manner that was detrimental to the interest of their depositors and creditors.”
Thereafter, the CBN appointed new CEOs to head each of the management teams that will include executive directors and chief financial officers to be appointed by the regulator, pending when the banks will be resuscitated and handed over to new managements.
In a bid to address the banks’ liquidity problems, the banking watchdog had last Friday injected a total of N420 billion. Intercontinental Bank and Oceanic Bank got N100 billion; Union Bank received N120 billion while N50 billion was pumped into Afribank and Finbank respectively.
But THISDAY gathered these funds were not sufficient to meet the needs of some of the troubled banks. The new managing directors have already intimated the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of the need to pump in more funds said to be running into a trillion at the last count.





Post Comment
All comments

Dangote, Oando, Rockson Dispute CBN Claim
•Apex bank admits errors
By Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja, 08.20.2009

Add To Favorites
Print This Article
Post Comment

The managements of Dangote Industries Limited, Oando Plc, Rockson Engineering Limited and Global Fleet Oil and Gas Ltd. have disputed yesterday’s “non-performing” debtors’ list published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN had last Friday removed chief executive officers and directors of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank Plc, Afribank Plc, FinBank Plc and Union Bank Plc and replaced them with interim CEOs. The CBN cited the unacceptable levels of loans owed to these banks among other factors for the ouster of the bank bosses.
It also published yesterday the list of the big debtors to the banks to compel them to clear the indebtedness without further delay, failing which, it said the banks would take all appropriate legal actions to ensure repayment.
The said advertorial among others, had listed Alhaji Aliko Dangote as a director and shareholder of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited, and the above stated firms as some of the defaulting customers to Intercontinental Bank Plc.
But the banking watchdog in a statement posted on its website, said the list published yesterday was compiled from reports from the affected banks as at May 31, 2009, which was a cut-off date for the special examination in the first 10 banks. The apex bank said it was probable that the situation could have changed if certain individuals or organisations had effected fresh payments on their facilities.
It noted claims by some individuals on the published list of debtors/defaulters that the figures posted against them were not correct and threatened to go to court. The CBN also acknowledged some typographical errors regarding the titles of some government officials and some companies “and wish to comment as follows: “The general public and all concerned should note that the list published is as at 31st May, 2009 and if any of the defaulters/debtors have made any repayments after that date, they should sort it out with the relevant bank; the title “Accountant General” under Intercontinental Bank Plc list, should have read “Accountant General of Zamfara State”, while the name “Delta State Government” under the Oceanic Bank list, should have read “Delta Steel Company”.
Consequently, the CBN said it regrets “any inconvenience caused as a result of the typographical errors mentioned.”
It nonetheless, said the list of other debtors/defaulters was being compiled and would be published on an ongoing basis.
However, in a statement made available to THISDAY, the management Dangote Industries insisted that Dandote was neither a director nor a shareholder of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited.
According to the statement, “We wish to state for the records that Alhaji Aliko Dangote is neither a Director nor a Shareholder of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited as averred. This is verifiable through the company registration documents held by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) wherein directors of the said company are listed as Alhaji Sani Dangote, Alhaji Mohammed Dangote and Ali Dangote.”
The statement noted that Aliko Dangote is not the same as Ali Dangote “as erroneously published in the CBN advertorial.” Ali Dangote, the statement said, is the son of Alhaji Sani Dangote.
“Form CAC7 of the Corporate Affairs Commission shows Ali Dangote’s signature, which is very different from Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s signature. Furthermore, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has no part in the management and running of Dansa Oil and Gas Limited.
“A letter has been written to the Central Bank of Nigeria to correct this misrepresentation and to request the removal of the name of Alhaji Aliko Dangote from the list of non-performing debtors of Intercontinental Bank Plc.”
Concerning Dangote Industries Limited’s indebtedness to Oceanic Bank Plc to the tune of N2,526,460,000.00, the statement said: “We are in dispute over the charges and are very close to resolution.
“A company of our size will take on facilities from bankers and financiers in the course of our business. As a responsible organisation, we deliver to our obligations in servicing these loans. It is on record that our credit rating remains admirable and our bankers have confidence in our ability to meet our obligations.”
In a related development, the Group Managing Director of Global Fleet, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, in a statement yesterday said he and four companies in which he has interests namely - Global Fleet Oil and Gas Ltd., Global Fleet Industries, Fleet Hotels and NICON Group - owe Oceanic Bank Plc N8 billion and not N14.7 billion.
Also, Oando in a rejoinder to the CBN advertorial stated that there was no way its relationship with Oceanic Bank could be deemed non-performing.
The advertorial had stated that Oando had total non-performing loan facility of N7.1 billion with Oceanic Bank Plc and constitutes one of the big debtors in the bank.
In a statement signed by the management of the company, Oando stated that as part of its ongoing relationship with Oceanic Bank, it had different credit balances on its deposit account and other debit balances on its advised loans as at May 31, 2009, adding that none of the debit balances represented “a past due obligation”.
For instance, it stated that in the Oando Plc current and deposit account, it had a balance as at May 13, 2009 of N2.1 billion.
Oando demanded from CBN and Oceanic Bank to correct the erroneous impression in the report, adding that it is a responsible entity and committed to proper financial management practices.
Ibrahim said a letter written to him on May 18, 2009 by Oceanic Bank and titled “Re: Outstanding Indebtedness” put the total outstanding on the facilities of Global Fleet Oil & Gas Ltd., Global Fleet Industries, Fleet Hotels, NICON Group and Barr. Jimoh Ibrahim at N8 billion.
The letter jointly signed by Robinson Ofomata (Asst. GM, Corporate Banking) and Oti Ikomi (Executive Director, Corporate Banking Group) acknowledged the receipt of N3 billion to date on the outstanding of Ibrahim’s facilities with the bank.
“Subject to getting value for the N1,000,000,000.00 cheque payment…May 18, 2009, the total outstanding on your facilities will now be N8,000,000,000.00 (eight billion naira only),” the bank said, adding “we…look forward to a most mutually beneficial relationship even as it is our hope that other payments necessary to fully extinguish these facilities will follow soon.”
He said the CBN acted hastily and that in the light of its (CBN’s) allegations of inaccuracy and non-disclosure against the banks, should “have found time to get the current figure”.
Also, the Managing Director, Rockson Engineering Limited, Sir Arumemi Johnson- Ikhide, and its Chairman, Senator Aniette Okon, also described as false the publication by the CBN that their company’s indebtedness to Intercontinental Bank stood at N36, 989,685,692.84.
They insisted that the company’s indebtedness to the bank was N14, 423,291,589. 49. Okon said the company would write to the CBN for the retraction of the publication.
The Rockson Engineering executives said the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) might suffer a major setback as foreign manufacturers involved in the execution of major power projects under the NIPP had suspended the supply of equipment for the ongoing projects.
Rockson Engineering Company Limited is the contractor handling four of the nine ongoing power projects under the NIPP.
Specifically, they said all the foreign firms involved in the manufacturing of the equipment for the projects had suspended actions over fears that some Nigerian banks are distressed.
“The foreign manufacturers have said that they will no longer supply equipment for the projects and it will affect their completion dates. They are holding Letters of Credit (LCs) from the banks the CBN pronounced as distressed. No bank will fund government projects anymore; if you present CBN Letters of Credit, they will not honour it. The initial setback of the NIPP was the power probe by the House of Representatives. Today, the issue is on the integrity of the LCs issued by the CBN. It is based on the LCs that we obtained facilities from the banks. If the CBN is saying that the loans are non-performing, it means that their LCs are not credible,” said Okon.
Some of the projects to be executed by Rockson Engineering include the 1074 megawatts capacity Ala-Oji Power Station, the largest station under the NIPP, being built in Ugwunagbo Local Government Area of Abia State and the Gbarain Ubie power station in Bayelsa State.
Others include the Egbema Power Plant in Imo State and the Omoku Power Station in Rivers State.

Exactly the type of hurry hurry that the former EFCC boss did. Counting two before 1

EFCC gives Dangote’s, Otedola’s, firms, others ultimatum -To pay N746.8bn in 7 days or , -Jimoh Ibrahim threatens to sue CBN
From Lanre Adewole and Akeem Nafiu - 20.08.2009

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, vowed to seize the assets of debtors to the five troubled banks if they did not pay their debts in one week.


Though the National Assembly is yet to pass the asset forfeiture bill into law, the commission can use the courts to get the debtors’ assets confiscated.


The spokesperson of EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, told the Nigerian Tribune that efforts were on to make the deadline a reality.


A statement issued by Babafemi noted that the EFCC boss, Mrs. Farida Waziri, made the commission’s intention known in Lagos, when she made an appearance at the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual conference.


The statement from Babafemi read: “Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, on Wednesday, gave debtors of the five banks, whose chief executives were recently sacked, a week ultimatum to pay up their debts or face arrest, prosecution and seizure of their assets.


“She gave this ultimatum while fielding questions from journalists at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual conference, holding in Lagos.


“According to her, we already have the list of the five banks’ debtors with us in EFCC and they have just one week to bring in their cheques or drafts to us or we begin their arrest and prosecution, as well as confiscation of their assets, because they are people of enormous means.


“She explained that the anti-graft agency has to get tough with them because of the urgent need to salvage the financial sector from total collapse and also restore discipline in all stakeholders in that sector.


“What we are doing with the case of the sacked bank executives should be a strong signal to all the debtors, no matter who they are, that we mean serious business on the recovery of these funds. We have been doing it quietly before now, because we already made some recoveries but now it is time to go full blast with them. No one is above the law and our law is no respecter of persons,” Waziri stated.


“The anti-graft agency’s boss stressed that it was in the interest of the debtors to comply with the directive rather than wait for arrest and prosecution.


“I will advise the debtors, whose names had already been published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take advantage of this ultimatum by issuing their cheques and drafts in the name of EFCC for proper and coordinated recovery after which we restitute by returning the funds to the appropriate banks,” she added.

“Speaking while addressing a forum of lawyers in the media at the NBA conference, Mrs. Waziri challenged members of the bar, the bench, the media and the general public on the need to come together to combat the evils of corruption in the overall interest of the nation. She said that owing to the “pervasive and debilitating effect of corruption on national development,” it was important for all stakeholders in the polity to work together to frontally attack all the evils of corruption.


“The bench, the bar, the media and the public are all stakeholders alongside others in the war against corruption. Every stakeholder has to play its role within the ambit of the rule of law, due process and the constitution,” she said. On the part of members of the bench, the EFCC’s boss charged judges to remain impartial and incorruptible to be able to adjudicate on matters of corruption. “In adjudicating over cases , the judge must act as an impartial umpire,” she said, adding that “the judge also has a duty of probity, honesty, objectivity and fairness in the determination of the matters before him.”


In addition, lawyers, she said, should always remember that they are “first and foremost ministers in the temple of justice” and should always eschew selfish considerations in the prosecution of cases. Waziri frowned on unethical practices among some members of the bar and charged them to be driven more by patriotic and honourable desires, removed from pecuniary interests.


“Waziri also charged the media to continue to discharge its roles without fear and favour. She also emphasised the need for the media to always operate within the confines of the rule of law.


Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director of Global Fleet, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim has said that contrary to the figure of N14.7 billion published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as what his company owes, the actual indebtedness of the company was N8 billion.


Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Ibrahim also said that the loans the company took were adequately serviced and insisted that the CBN must retract the publication or face legal action from Global Fleet.


“If CBN does not apologise or do retraction, I will sue them for damages because I am doing my legitimate business employing people, paying salaries and taxes and developing my dear country, Nigeria.


“We do not have contractual obligation with CBN, we did not borrow money from CBN and they do not regulate us, so also is Oceanic Bank not a failed bank within the law.


“For instance, between January and now, we paid the bank three billion (naira) as shown in the letter, so why is the loan not performing?” he queried.


Describing the CBN figures as a lie, he said the Oceanic Bank had on May 18, 2009 written to the company “and put all the outstanding debts of all Global Fleet Group at eight billion (naira),” a copy of which was obtained by the Nigerian Tribune.


The managing director wondered why the CBN did not find time to get the current figure more importantly that they are accusing the bank of inaccuracy and non disclosure.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

bodejohn:
@ Nchara and all

I quite agree that it is not only fake documents that we have in Nigeria but the country herself is fake.
We have a fake president, fake senetors, fake governors, fake ministers of politics and God etc etc.

Also as a matter of fact, the european countries that we run to are not better than us afterall
Just that they are more consitent and focused that us. Anytime i travel out of Nigeria, I always wish i go back home.

I know one day things will begin to work in our dear country.

Please in what ways are we better than the European and American countries that we flock to. Home will always be best for everyone, not just Nigerians. That, however,  cannot mean that Nigeria is better than any of those countries.

dancewith:
This is nonsence. this is the bull**t the embassy has been relying on to refuse people without as much as a glance at the documents. the truth is we are still a far better country than them europe & america. lets stay put here and work hard; suffer for the future of our kids. developement will come to us no need going to it. please!

Are you ok? Which European or American (except some southern American countries) is Nigeria better than? If you insist we must remain home and build our country, I agree and have no problem with that. But to state that Nigeria is better than Europe and America is simply ludicrous. The ambassador was right. Nigeria is a largely fake country with fake documentations.

This is definitely a correct assertion by the Ambassador, with Oluwole still operational in Lagos, Nigeria. You only need to be outside of Nigeria, especially Europe, to see how many Nigerians are living illegally most bearing non-Nigerian sounding names. Shame, really.

I hope he is concerned with where the monies his members are donating come from. Some will steal and give to him. That is not God's idea of tithing, I am sure.

We’ll bomb Lagos, Ibadan – Boko Haram
*Police beef-up security
*They’ll meet their waterloo – OPC
*Don’t provoke Igbo – Ikedife
By Daniel Alabrah, Sola Balogun, Samuel Olatunji & Sunday Ani
Sunday, August 16, 2009


•Photo: The Sun Publishing
More Stories on This Section
You wake up early in the morning in Lagos and head towards Victoria Island from the mainland, only to discover that the Third Mainland Bridge had been cut off by Islamic jihadists.
In Ibadan, also in the South West, the rampaging insurgents have struck, cordoning off the State Secretariat after the governor had sat down in his office.

The South East had equally been cut off from the rest of the country with the bombing of the Niger Bridge, and Aba Road and Diobu in Port Harcourt are in flames, sending jitters down the spines of government officials and the security agencies across Nigeria. Like before, there was warning by the sect members but no one took them serious until they struck.

This is the ugly scenario stalking the nation with the latest threat of the Boko Haram sect to inflict mortal injuries on the cities of Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Port Harcourt beginning from this month of August. Their targets - Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw - whom the sect described as infidels.

This time around, the nation might ignore the latest threat to its peril if the chilly scars of the 9/11 terror attacks are anything to go by. In an electronic mail statement to the media, the new leader of the group, Mallam Sanni Umaru, warned: “We have started a Jihad in Nigeria, which no force on earth can stop. The aim is to Islamise Nigeria and ensure the rule of the majority Moslems in the country. We will teach Nigeria a lesson, a very bitter one.

“From the month of August, we shall carry out series of bombings in Southern and Northern Nigeria cities, beginning with Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Port Harcourt. The bombings will not stop until Sharia is established and western civilisation wiped off Nigeria. We will not stop until these evil cities are turned to ashes.”

The Bokom Haram bombshell is coming two weeks after the fundamentalists struck in four states in the North, namely Bauchi, Kano, Yobe and Borno, killing scores before their leader, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, an alleged financier of the group, Alhaji Buji Foi, and close to 1000 members were felled by the combined force of the army and police.
Already, the police authorities have placed their men on read alert and have beefed up security at strategic areas across the country.

In a telephone interview with Sunday Sun, Lagos police command spokesperson, Mr Frank Mba, said the command was not aware of any formal threat from the radical Islamic group but that they have put in place security measures to prevent the Borno kind of attack from happening in Lagos.
“I am not aware that such a formal notice was issued. However, no state is in isolation. Since the event in Borno occurred, the command has been putting security measures in place to prevent such attack. The first thing we did was to call meeting of religious and tribal leaders to prevent ripple effect.

“We have also deployed undercover operatives to sensitive areas. We have engaged what we call high visibility policing. That is a measure where police men are everywhere. The armoured vehicles, police cars, stop-and-search are part of the high visibility policing we are talking about.

“There is also a special team monitoring movement of people in and out of the state. I want to assure people that Lagos is safe and it will continue to be safe. Lagos is not a fertile ground for such activity,” Mba said.
The leadership of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) reacted angrily to the threat with a stern warning to the religious fundamentalists to stay off Yorubaland or meet their waterloo. Both the OPC founder, Dr Frederick Fasehun, and the National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, condemned the threat, insisting that the Yoruba would not fold their hands and watch Islamic fundamentalists cause mayhem on their land.
Adams, who berated the Islamic group for attempting to cause chaos in Nigeria, warned that they will meet their waterloo should they venture into Yorubaland.

“We are ready for them and we will match them force for force if that is the only thing they understand.”
Adams, in a telephone interview with Sunday Sun, revealed that the OPC had alerted all its units across the six Yoruba states immediately the police reportedly arrested some people in Abuja on their way to the Southwest to cause havoc.

According to him, “we have our men on alert already since the police arrested some of them in Abuja coming to Lagos. We are ready for them. They should not come and disrupt the harmony in Yorubaland. We have a secular society in place here and they won’t come and disturb it. We have a plan in place that would effectively curb their advance anytime they decide to come to the South West.”

The OPC founder was equally incensed over the report, warning that an attack on Yorubaland would be seen as provocation and be so treated.
Fasehun, who noted that the report was just an empty boast, however advised the security agencies not to take it lightly.
Likewise, the immediate past president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife, has warned the federal government not to take the threat lightly.

Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, he warned that should the group come to Igboland it would be seen as extreme provocation, which would be resisted accordingly.
The Igbo leader advised the government not to take the threat as an empty one before the whole country is thrown into crisis, adding that Nigeria cannot afford any war again.

Ikedife asked the group to seek peaceful separation from the country if they don’t want to be part of Nigeria instead of resorting to bombing and killing as it cannot be an answer to their grievances.
He doubted if the group actually represents the Islamic religion, stating that there are unseen hands supporting its activities and advised the federal government to ensure that such faceless individuals are unmasked.

“There is an Igbo adage which says that a little bird dancing by the road side has the drummer within. The federal government must find out these drummers,” he stated

Deep Soul:
", In his contribution, the Director-General of NTA, Mr Usman Magawata, recalled that the process for the award of the contract began since 2007, "

Let's give her some credit naw. In 2007, she was still dodging bullets from anti-Nafdac assassins!

She wasnt there when the plan was hatched, and what have her daughters being married to "oyinbos" got to ddo with the issue of corruption?

I hope they listen to you. Thanks though

HND is not necessarily a death warrant

sjeezy8:
^^^^ PDP doesn't work like that though

Neither do the others.

This problem still dey?

deleted

http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/index.php/news/headlines/4666-don-blames-northern-leaders-over-backwardness-in-the-region
Don Blames Northern Leaders Over Backwardness In The Region
Written by Mansur Sani Malam, Kano
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 00:05
Prof. Abubakar Rashid of Department of English, Bayero University Kano, has accused the Northern leaders of conspiring among themselves to keep a bleak future for the region and its teeming populace so that they would continue to perpetrate their evil rules.Prof. Rashid disclosed this recently at an event by Dandalin Siyasa Yahoo.com, a new youth organization created to give awareness among the Northern youth on the activities of the politicians and democratic norms and values, through the Internet, held at Mambayya House, Gwammaja, Kano.He asserted that northern politicians and leaders seem to conspire to keep the polity down in the region, and make the level of literacy among youth so low so that they(politicians) will continue to lord it over the masses.According to him, northerners remained the importers rather then exporters of ideas, insisting that the area future will continue to be bleak until something is done to correct the wrongs. “Today, in the entire north, we don't have a credible service media apart from two newpapers, and this is another reason why the people will not understand the purpose of their living.”Commenting, another speaker at the event, and political scientist, Dr. Muhmud Lawan, pointed out that today’s leaders are called office holders, rather than political leaders because they have completely failed to exercise the virtues of good leadership. He also lamented that political parties do not reflect the ideals of true democracy, but structures run by men just to grab power for their own ends.

Deleted

If a one-party state will solve Nigeria's problems, so be it. What has been the gains of our 1000 parties so far? If we have only PDP but there is internal democracy (within the party) and things are working in the country, who cares?

@ poster: What is in your bolded parts warranting to accuse Dora of Corruption? ''I did not know the contractors'' could have meant not knowing them before contracts were awarded. She met them after contract award. How can any right thinking person award contracts to person they did not meet during and/or after the contract award? Please leave the poor woman to do her job.

I expect that Lagos should have the highest literacy level, being where ''everything'' that has to do with communication in Nigeria goes on. But the figure for Lagos is not simply attributable to SW because Lagos comprises people from other zones in significant numbers.

Tinubu should actually be in prison for corruption. I WONDER what bribe he has given to EFCC

Beaf:
Oops! I was caught between using ND and South South states.

Ondo is an ND state.

Thanks.

So are Imo and Abia. Not so? Please pull Ondo back to SW

Beaf:
Exactly, thats why I didn't bother to find any stuff on them.

Why is Ondo in bold? Its relevant only to the original thread I posted that list to (I needed to highlight ND states).

"But can you now compare the total population of each of those states to the % literate?" This list is the closest I could get for the base literacy per state that you asked for. I don't know, but it would seem that literacy in a Western sense would have been too much of an embarrassment for the Internet. The state of our statistics is incredibly poor, whether this is deliberate or not is another matter.
You have to do the math for that based on things like JAMB admission rates per state per population. I tend to prefer JAMB figures were they can gleaned from the dross.

But you missed out on Imo and Abia as ND state? Please move Ondo to SW, where it rightly belongs, for the purpose of the ensuing argument. Thanks