Ifeanyi Uba Accuses AMCON of Rendering 1,463 Nigerians Jobless

Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Uba,  the chairman of Capital Oil and Gas, on Tuesday lamented what he described as the arm twisting of the federal government-owned Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to intimidate and frustrate his company into liquidation.

He also lamented of the political angle to the alleged arm-twisting in order to abandon his political party, the Young Progressive Party (YPP), and join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Uba further lamented that the actions of the regulatory body, AMCON, has rendered 1,463 Nigerians jobless.

The senator, who is the Vice Chairman of the ninth Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, spoke to select journalists yesterday in preparation for  Wednesday's mediation talks brokered  between AMCON and Capital Oil and Gas by Olisa Agbakoba (SAN).

According to Uba, the government regulatory body, "AMCON, is abusing powers vested on it in trust by the parliament to criminalise commercial disputes with a view to overreaching, blackmailing and subduing him whilst exposing them to unwarranted media opprobrium. He explained that AMCON has continued to consciously or otherwise present itself as a tool for fighting economic and political wars against Senator Ubah.

He said at the meeting with journalists that "as you may be aware, Capital Oil and Gas was at all material time a company with assets of strategic national importance in the downstream sector of Nigeria," and that his company woes started from the reclassification of obligor limits by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the aborted deregulation policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011 that Capital Oil and Gas invested close to 150million dollars in acquiring vessels, dredging and others.

 

Uba stated that in 2012, the Capital and Gas was shocked to realise that AMCON secretly went to the Federal High Court in suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/714/2012 and obtained freezing orders to take possession of Capital Oil and Gas assets, including its depot at Ibafon.

 "We (Capital Oil and Gas) approached the same Federal High Court vide a motion on notice, and sought orders to set aside the earlier ex parte orders obtained by AMCON. The court in a considered ruling set aside the baseless and reckless orders obtained by AMCON and noted that the purpose for which AMCON was established was to assist Nigerian companies to recovery and not to drive them to insolvency," he said.

The senator added: "Thereafter, Capital Oil and Gas and AMCON held negotiations and executed a Terms of Settlement and a Restructuring and Facility agreement, and these were entered as judgment of the court on June 21, 2013. The consent judgment stated inter alia that the Restructured Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) would be repaid over a nine-year period while AMCON was required to inject funds to boost liquidity thereby enabling Capital Oil and Gas meet its funding requirements without disposing off key assets. It is important to note that at all material times, the assets of Capital Oil and Gas were far above its obligations to AMCON."

The embattled senator noted that Capital Oil and Gas had an obligation to provide transferred assets which it believed had a value of N78.55billion to AMCON by the consent judgment, adding that AMCON and Capital Oil and Gas at all times agreed that the aggregate market value of the assets given to AMCON was up to N78.55billion.

“However, AMCON had an obligation under the consent judgment to appoint an independent valuer who was to within 90 days from the date of the consent judgment, value the said assets and determine that their forced sale value was up to N.55billion, but AMCON never did.

Uba said it was after Capital Oil and Gas had fulfilled its obligation under the consent judgment to provide assets worth N78.55billion to AMCON, explaining that AMCON approached Capital Oil and Gas with a request for additional assets, with an alleged shortfall of N15billion without disclosing their independent valuation report.

According to him, "In a bid to arm-twist Capital Oil and Gas and its then Managing Director, Mr. Mustapha Chike Obi, AMCON wrote a petition to the then Inspector General of Police (IG) aimed at coercing Capital Oil and Gas and its managing director to accede to its earlier request. In the petition to the then IG, AMCON stated that a shortfall of N15billion existed in assets provided by Capital Oil and Gas. In other words, AMCON’s position was that the properties listed in the schedule to the consent judgment and the R&FA had a forced sale value of N63billion.

"Despite Capital Oil and Gas’s vehement objection to AMCON’s unjustified request for additional assets valued at N15billion, Capital Oil and Gas in good faith went ahead to provide more assets to AMCON in excess of the N15billion requested. The issue of valuation and Capital Oil and Gas’s compliance with its obligation to provide assets with a forced sale value of N78.55 billion was thereby resolved and laid to rest. This fact is confirmed by the implementation roadmap issued by AMCON and their lawyer, Olaniwun Ajayi."