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House Sets in Motion Probe of Otedola-AMCON Debt Deal

By on October 13, 2012

Femi Otedola and President JOnathan

The House of Representative have demonstrated that Mr. Femi Otedola is not free yet, irrespective of the said settlement of N140, 999,620,395.80 debts he owed.

An eight-man committee was set up by the legislatures on Thursday to look into the N141 billion-debt settlement arrangement between Otedola and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The committee, which is lead by the House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, is expected to investigate and expose the situation surrounding the final settlement of debts owned by AMCON by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc.

In the agreement approved by the AMCON board, Otedola was said to have transferred his assets and an anonymous sum of money to AMCON as full and last payment for his debts.

The deal was necessitated by the release of a debtor’s list by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which Otedola was named the biggest debtor with N192, 422,889,943.56 acquired by AMCON at the price of N140, 999,620,395.80.

According to the AMCON Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, it took six long months of negotiation meetings with Otedola to strike the deal.

However, in a motion raised by Hon. Abimbola Daramola (PDP/Ekiti) on the debt recovery transaction, the house has set a committee to probe the transaction.

Daramola protested that, the AMCON Act requires AMCON to publish all its operations in the Media as well as present copies of its operations to the National Assembly, Ministry of Finance, and CBN but AMCON failed to follow this process with the Otedola deal.

“The House is aware that it was publicly reported that Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc have paid up an outstanding debt of N140, 999,620,395.80 owed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.”

“We are, however, disturbed that the sudden final settlement of this exposure by these organisations was shrouded in secrecy and established under a binding confidentiality agreement. We are convinced that the exposure of these organisations whose debts are said to have been finally settled now is the highest with the consequences of causing a systemic rift to the economy,” he stated.

Daramola argued that, if the details of the transaction are not properly scrutinized  the stock market disaster that killed many people would be a small thing compared to what might happen in this case.

After several debates in the house, the house unanimously decided that the case should be revisited and a full- investigation carried out and reported to the House within one month.

Other members of the committee headed by Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila are Hon. Uzo Azubuike, Hon. Pally Iriase, Hon. Idris Wase, Hon. Sani Kalgo, Hon. Evelyn Ojakovo, Hon. Ajibola Muraina, and Hon. Jerry Manwe.