AMCON’s seizure of my house not necessary, says Abdulfatah Ahmed

Abdulfatah Ahmed, a former governor of Kwara state, says the takeover of his house by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) was unnecessary.

A federal high court in Lagos had on Wednesday ordered AMCON to seize the former’s governor’s properties over a N5billion debt.

AMCON had described Ahmed as a high-profile obligor who “remained recalcitrant” over the repayment of his obligation.

Asides from a mansion belonging to him in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, AMCON was also granted possession of the governor’s other assets across the country.

Reacting through Wahab Oba, his media aide, the former governor said “the reported take over of his Ilorin property by a lawyer purporting to represent AMCON was unnecessary and overzealous due to ongoing talks to resolve previous transactions with two defunct banks”.

Ahmed said the dispute was based on a margin loan he secured from the defunct Intercontinental Bank and Finbank in 2009 for the purchase of shares which was then lumped with “unrelated loans obtained by others”.

He explained that the banks held the shares as collateral to sell and recover the loans in the event of a default.

According to him, the banks passed the loans to AMCON instead of selling the shares to recover the loan amount.

Ahmed said prior to the “overzealous conduct” of taking over his house, he was already in talks with AMCON to separate the liabilities.

The former governor also gave a commitment to meet any outstanding obligations once the loans are disaggregated.