President of Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, PSAN, Boniface Okezie, has instituted a suit before a Federal High Court, Lagos asking for an order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to publicise how it managed about N191 billion assets seized from the former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru.
The applicant is also asking the court to compel the CBN to provide him information on the total cash and value of the properties recovered from Mrs. Ibru, as well as the position of the money and properties recovered.
Okezie, through his counsel, Chuks Nwachukwu, brought the suit pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
Assets forfeited by Mrs. Ibru included 94 landed property scattered in Nigeria, Dubai and the United States, as well as shares in about 100 firms both listed and unlisted in the Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE.
Justice Dan Abutu sentenced Mrs. Ibru to 18 months’ imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of recklessly granting credit facilities.
She had admitted granting an illegal credit facility of $20 million to WAVES Project Nigeria Limited and N2 billion unlawful credit to Petosan Farms. She also agreed that she failed to ensure that the 2009 balance sheet of Oceanic Bank was a true reflection of the state of affairs of the bank.
The judge had also ruled that the forfeited assets should be managed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON.
In the present suit, Okezie seeks to know the part of the recovered cash and properties that have so far been returned to Oceanic Bank or the shareholders of the bank.
Besides, the plaintiff is seeking an order to compel CBN to publicise the total cost of the reforms in the banking sector championed by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
But in its preliminary objection, the CBN said that Okezie did not comply with the mandatory 30 days provision before filing the suit.
It, therefore, urged the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, to dismiss the suit.
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