Dike Onwuamaeze
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) thursday announced that it had taken over properties belonging to Alhaji Umaru Baba Abdullahi, the Chief Promoter of Doggi Group Limited over an indebtedness of over N440 million.
The takeover is in compliance with the order of Justice A.I. Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja division.
The Head of Corporate Communications Department of AMCON, Mr. Jude Nwauzor, said in a statement yesterday that Justice Chikere gave the order on June 5.
According to the statement, AMCON yesterday took possession of two properties, through its receiver, Mrs. Juliet Benson of Benson Reeds Legal Practitioners.
The buildings are situated at Plot 3810, Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and Plot 1274, Cadastral Zone B07, Katampe Hills, Katampe District, Abuja.
The case of Doggi Group Limited and its promoter has been a protracted issue because the loan was purchased during the first phase of Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) purchase from Union Bank Plc in 2011, it added.
Since then, AMCON said it had offered the obligor opportunities and explored all avenues to resolve the matter amicably, but the obligor, and his company, Doggi Group Limited, have remained recalcitrant and unwilling to repay the debt.
Shedding more light on the development, Nwauzor said: “Yes, we enforced on the properties today as ordered by Justice Chikere’s court, and are grateful to the Federal High Court for working on behalf of Nigerians to recover some of the debts owed the country by a few individuals despite the challenges posed by the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to institutions, including the judiciary.
“Like we have always said in the past, our priority at AMCON has never been to take over anybody’s properties or assets – our mandate is to recover Nigeria’s money in the hands of these obligors. Overtime, however, we have observed that the obligors enjoy hiding under some legal technicalities to delay even the repayment arrangement they negotiated and signed.
“When you have held several meetings and arrived at an agreement but the obligor decided to make a U-turn by reneging, it leaves AMCON with no other option than to approach the court. In the case of Doggi Group Limited and its promoter, AMCON did everything any responsible and law-abiding organistaion ought to do to help the promoter and his business continue to no avail,”
President Muhammadu Buhari last year signed the 2019 Amended AMCON Act into law, which gives AMCON additional powers to go after all obligors of the corporation who for years had refused to repay their debt.
