The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria has cleared the air on the controversy surrounding the manner the agency took over the assets of the N24billion Best Western Plus Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, owned by the Suru Group.
AMCON Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr. Jude Obiagu, said in a chat with our correspondent that despite the contrary claims by the Suru Group, the corporation had obtained a court order before taking over the hotel.
AMCON, on September 22, 2017, reportedly stormed the property with armed policemen to forcefully eject staff and customers from the hotel building.
The Chairman of Suru Group, Mr. Edward Akinlade, had recently said that the Federal High Court had stopped AMCON from taking over the property, adding that the act was an abuse of judicial process.
But Obiagu said that it was not true that AMCON took action against the hotel in disregard of the court processes on the lingering debt problem between it and the Suru Group.
“We do not go outside the law that established AMCON; and the law that established us is an Act,”
he said.
Obiagu further said that AMCON usually fully explored all alternative means before taking any of its debtors to court.
The AMCON spokesman noted, “For us, before heading to the court with any AMCON obligor or debtor, we first explore all available areas and means of settlement in the matter. It is only when we are finding the issue of settlement difficult from the side of the debtor, that we refer the matter to our legal department, as we are not authorised to take the law in our
own hands.
“Our legal department takes the case to court and the court automatically gives us an order or the next thing to do is given to us by the court, as an agency of the government. It is not as if our Managing Director, Alhaji Ahmed Kuru, just unilaterally intervenes in a company, when we do not have the authority or instruction to do so.”
He added, “If you find a debtor to AMCON saying what AMCON is doing is wrong, that they are acting differently from what the law establishing them says, please, look at the person in the eye and say to him or her that he is lying. That is not the modus operandi of AMCON. Everything we are doing with the Suru Group, just like any other AMCON debtor, passes through the legal process.
“As you are aware, in the Nigerian context, it is not as if you start a case today and get judgement tomorrow. You must not forget that the obligor has its own team of lawyers representing them in court. It is all about argument and counter argument. And judgement is based on superior argument.”
Speaking further on the matter, Obiagu said, “And if we have the authority and mandate of the court to take over an asset, definitely, we shall take it over because we have the authority of the court to take it over. Except the customer is telling us that he is not owing anybody, then
I will say we don’t know anything about that. But the question here is: are you owing or not? If the answer is yes, then the next thing is: do we have a court order? Yes, we do. Then what have we done
wrong?
“Also, if a matter is in court, we do not like discussing it on the pages of newspapers with our debtors, in this regard. It is not all about media war. It is your argument versus my argument.
It is all about whether you are owing or not. If you are owing, the law
says you should pay and you said no. Then what are you talking about?”
