The CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido, who is leading the effort to recover “non-performing” loans, gave a loan of N1.56B to publisher of Next Newspapers, Dele Olojede, without collateral as the Executive Director Of First Bank.
CBN Governor, Sanusi, Gave N1.56B Loan Without Collateral At First Bank!
As the ripple in the banking sector continue to escalate, more and more people are being caught in the dragnet. The Times of Nigeria can exclusively report that current CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido, who is leading the effort to recover “non-performing” loans, gave a loan of N1.56B to publisher of Next Newspapers, Dele Olojede, without collateral as the Executive Director Of First Bank.
Olojede was said to have borrowed the money last year when Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Lamido Sanusi, was First Bank Executive Director in charge of risk management.
Many of the debtors have started repaying their loans to avoid being put on the next list of defaulters to be published by the EFCC.
Olojede’s headache is said to be the fact that the EFCC is after debtors, whether their loans are performing or not.
EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, recently told those raising eye-brows to pay first before complaining about the inclusion of their names on the debtors’ list.
The EFCC disclosed last Wednesday that it had arrested an additional 24 executives and other debtors, bringing to 39 the number of those in its custody.
Five bank MDs were sacked by the CBN on August 14, in part over alleged recklessness and financial mismanagement, which led to a debt profile of N1.1 trillion, given out mostly in loans without collateral.
The MDs fired were Cecilia Ibru (Oceanic), Erastus Akingbola (Intercontinental), Sebastian Adigwe (Afribank), Barth Ebong (Union), and Okey Nwosu (Finbank).
Except Akingbola, all are being detained by the EFCC, along with over 30 executives of the subsidiaries of the banks.
They have all been granted bail, but have not met the stiff conditions.
Akingbola is said to be on the run.
Others grinding their noses against the cells of the EFCC include Samuel Adegbite, Toyin Phillips, Sani Adams, Bayo Dada, and Dayo Famoroti.
They also include Henry Onyemen, Niyi Opeodo, and Peter Ololo.
Waziri disclosed last Thursday that the EFCC has obtained a court order to detain the suspects beyond 48 hours, because their alleged offences are far beyond civil matters.
She urged the judiciary to refrain from granting frivolous interlocutory injunctions to the debtors, whom she accused of “economic sabotage” who would not be allowed to escape with their loots.
Olojede was said to have initially met Henry Imasekha last year to help him secure the loan from a new generation bank without success.
“It was after then he approached Hakeem Bello-Osagie, former United Bank for Africa (UBA) Chairman, who introduced him to Sanusi,” the source recounted.
Aside the loan, it was learnt that Bello-Osagie, Nasir el-Rufai (former Federal Capital Terrority Minister), and Nuhu Ribadu (former EFCC Chairman), invested in the newspaper.
“Our main concern now is to ensure that First Bank’s name does not appear on the list of banks being owed.
“We have sent people to Olojede to pay up before the EFCC gets wiser,” the source added.
