A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja.
Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday.
The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.
Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me.
“But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment.
“We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provides another place for us.
“They will surely pay for disgracing and humiliating me publicly. I am going back to court.”
Shedding more light into the matter, a family member of Galadima, who spoke with our correspondent, said the former NMA boss never borrowed money from Unity Bank as claimed by AMCON.
He said, “Engineer Buba Galadima never borrowed any money from the bank.
“He opened a Letter of Credit with a bank, now Unity Bank, to purchase fertiliser for Kano State Government but the LC was never honoured by suppliers because the bank was under FBI investigation.
“The then governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, revoked the contract due to some issues of party politics and Unity Bank never gave Galadima any money but charged him an interest that amounted to N349m.
“The case was taken to the trial court and Galadima was asked to pay the interest even without accessing any fund.
“He then went to Appeal Court and got a judgment in his favour to dismiss the charges.”
However, not satisfied by the court order, Unity Bank informed AMCON that Galadima was indebted to it.
AMCON soon filed a fresh case and prayed the court to grant an ex-parte order empowering it to take over Galadima’s property.
The court, in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1136/2019, ordered AMCON to take over the business and assets of Bedko Nigeria Limited belonging to Galadima.
