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Illegal Invasion, Sealing of Properties: AMCON Reaches Truce with AEROLAND
Following last Friday’s illegal invasion and sealing of properties belonging to Aeroland Conglomerate by AMCON, a truce has been reached between the agency and the conglomerate’s (Aeroland) CEO, Otunba Segun Adewale.
This was contained in a statement from Adewale’s media office and personally signed by him. It would be recalled that the corporate office of Aeroland Travels and some other properties were sealed by a team of policemen acting on an exparte order obtained for alleged 1.8 billion naira debt owed by Aeroland.
Otunba Segun Adewale acknowledged that AMCON called him for an in-house meeting where all matters concerning his frozen assets that made headlines earlier have been resolved. The PDP chieftain added that the gesture was what he expected of AMCON ab initio, as a mediator between him and Polaris Bank to affirm who is in debt and by obligation admonish the erring party to pay.
He also expressed his concern on the matter, saying that the reconciliation will expose the atrocities of Polaris bank. In an excerpt, he reflects by saying he has been clamouring for reconciliation and that is why he took Polaris bank to court, stating that the bank is so duplicitous.
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in a statement by its spokesperson, Jude Nwauzor, had announced the take-over of the assets belonging to Aeroland Travels Limited, and its directors’ sequel to the order of Honourable Justice D.E. Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division as a result of the indebtedness of N1.8bn.
It stated that “It would be recalled that Justice Osiagor gave the ruling on February 7, 2022, and in compliance to the enforcement order of the court, AMCON put logistics together, and on Friday, May 6, 2022, took effective possession of the nine properties as listed by the court through its debt recovery agent – Robert Ohuoba & Co.
ALSO READ: N1.8bn debt: AMCON takes over Aeroland Travels’ assets
But while insisting that Aeroland is not indebted to Polaris Bank, the CEO challenged the bank to produce the offer letter of the loan or any document in lieu to confirm such a transaction. He equally requested the bank to produce the account number to which the purported loan was disbursed.
Rather, he said that he had approached the CBN and reconciled the account of his company but that Polaris Bank had refused to do the same despite an invitation by the apex bank. He encourages that he and Polaris Bank should meet to reconcile and if he owes them he will pay but if they owe him, they must pay the money back with interest.
While condemning what he called media trial, intimidation and reputational damage orchestrated by AMCON, Otunba Segun Adewale expressed his disappointment at the media for prosecuting him unjustly and without a fair hearing of his side of the story. The business mogul further expressed his displeasure with the misrepresentation and unprofessional reportage of the incident by a media section that failed to cross-check facts on the incident before going to press.
“It is quite unfortunate that a lot of print and online media went with one side of the story as they were used to descend heavily on my business and reputation which I laboured to build for many years. The media had picked on a story of the allegation and trend it as a court judgement, indirectly prosecuting me before being adjudged to have been wrong”.
Otunba Segun Adewale, however, appreciates his supporters and well-wishers who reached out to him for their concern and show of support during and after the incident.