All the accounts of
defeated senatorial candidate, Uboh – Ogunkoya have been frozen.
And this development comes
on the strength of a court order.
Here are the details.
Justice Yunusa Mohammed of
the Federal High Court in Lagos, capital of Lagos State, has ordered
eleven Nigerian banks to freeze the accounts of a former female member of
the House of Representatives, Doris Uboh-Ogunkoya. The court order arose from a
lawsuit filed against Ms. Uboh-Ogunkoya by Sterling Bank Plc, alleging that she
and her company had defaulted on a substantial loan. The lawsuit, which was
filed by Dada Awosika on behalf of Sterling Bank, also lists the former
legislator’s company, Dagasteel International Limited, as co-defendant.
Ms. Uboh-Ogunkoya was a House of Reps member from 2007 to 2011. She also ran unsuccessfully as a senatorial candidate of the Labor Party in the March 28, 2015 elections.
Ms. Uboh-Ogunkoya was a House of Reps member from 2007 to 2011. She also ran unsuccessfully as a senatorial candidate of the Labor Party in the March 28, 2015 elections.
An
affidavit by Mr. Tunji Bajowa, an official of Sterling Bank, disclosed that Ms.
Uboh-Ogunkoya and her company received loans of $1,600,000 and N100 million to
finance a contract awarded to Dagasteel by different bodies, including the
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SDPC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),
and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company Limited (PPMC). Sterling
alleges that both Ms. Uboh-Ogunkoya and her company did not service the loans.
Justice
Mohammed’s ordered United Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank, Enterprise Bank, Skye
Bank, Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Mainstreet Bank, Union Bank, Diamond Bank,
and Stanbic IBTC not to permit the defendants to make transactions on their
accounts in the respective banks until the substantive suit was determined.
In
addition, the judge issued an interim order restraining the registrar of titles
in Lagos and Delta states as well as the director of lands in Abuja from
releasing any funds to the defendants connected to the SPDC and NPA contracts.
The
lawsuit disclosed that the former legislator provided three parcels of land in
Agbor, Delta State, Ajah, in Lagos State, and in Abuja as collateral to secure
the loans.
Sterling
Bank’s lawsuit added that it faithfully disbursed funds from the credit
facilities to the defendants, but added that Ms. Uboh-Ogunkoya and her company
never paid back when SPDC paid them for the contract.
The
lawsuit accused the defendants of refusing to respond to the bank’s inquiries
about the progress of the contracts, adding that the former legislator used the
payments she received to fund her 2015 senatorial race.
According
to the lawsuit, the defendants were already processing the second part of
payment from the SPDC as well as payment from the NPA in order to divert the
funds.
Sterling
Bank alleged that the legislator and her company had rebuffed numerous efforts
by its officials to obtain repayment of the credit facilities. It accused the
two defendants of striving to evade their obligations to repay the loan taken
Sterling Bank.
Among
other reliefs, Sterling Bank wants the court to order the defendants to pay
$1.77 million and N117 million naira which are the outstanding values of the
loans it extended to the former legislator and her firm
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