A mortgage bank, Aso Savings and Loans Limited, has threatened to sell the property of a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Ibrahim Kazaure, at No. 75, 4th Avenue, Gwarimpa II Estate following the alleged inability of the ex-minister to repay a N138m debt.
The bank’s position was contained in a letter from its lawyers, Ugwu-Anichi & Co. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Punch on Monday. The mortgage bank had accused the former minister of not re-paying the loan in spite of repeated demands, since he took the loan in 2008.
Kazaure, a former Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had mortgaged the residential property as collateral for the loan.
In the letter dated December 22, 2010, Kazaure, a former chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, obtained the loan in two tranches of N32m in January to purchase the property located in upscale Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, where he is now resident and another N68m to complete a residential building in Kano in December, 2008.
But the ex-minister was said to have failed to re-pay the N100m loan and the accrued interest, which had risen to N138,897, 303.73 as at December 14, 2010.
THE PUNCH learnt that the decision to sell the house was the bank’s last resort, as efforts by its officials, including letters and personal visits, to get the former ambassador to repay the loan were not successful.
In one instance, officials of the bank were said to have visited him in his office while he was still minister to plead with him to re-pay the debt. They said it was leading to queries by external auditors and examiners from the Central Bank of Nigeria, but he allegedly walked them out of his office for having the effrontery to demand the re-payment of the debt.
The bank also sent him another demand letter after he was removed from the cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan, to which he responded with a request to be given 90 days from August 19, 2010 to re-pay the debt.
“I would like to plead with you to allow me to finish and sell some of my properties undergoing renovation, i.e. one of my duplexes in (Sun City), No 1 Benue Street and others in another location. I would be very grateful if allowed a time of 90 days within which all this processes will be completed,” Kazaure pleaded in his letter to his creditor.
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