Boardroom Player Onyema Okonjo’s Headache
Onyema Okonjo, Managing Director, Giant Beverages Limited, is a boardroom top player.Those who know Okonjo, also a former managing director of Matrix Software, say he has always been particularly interested in growing his business.
But the day he resorted to securing a loan from a bank became the biggest mistake of his life; little did he know that he was inadvertently inviting trouble upon himself.
At the moment, the loan is giving him a headache, but it is also affecting the company’s running.
A source revealed that he is neckdeep in a legal battle now, as he has been dragged before Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos over his inability to repay the loan of N 168 million.
The court, it was gathered, has granted an order freezing and attaching his bank accounts and those of two directors of the company, Kenneth Njoku and Ernest Awuionu, who are signatories to the accounts.They are said to maintain accounts to the tune of N 168, 431,375.61 in 15 different commercial banks in Nigeria.
The court also directed the Corporate Affairs Commission to place a lien on the shares of the defendants held in Giant Beverages Limited, pending the determination of the substantive suit. Justice Osiagor also granted an order to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON to enter into and take possession of the property lying at Plot 18, Block 130, Lekki Peninsula Residential Scheme, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, which was pledged as security by third party deed of legal mortgage for the facility granted to P C Outlet Limited Company.
Justice Osiagor made the order after listening to the argument canvassed by a lawyer, Laolu Owolabi, from Bonajo Badejo and S.E.Omoragbon law firm. According to an affidavit in support of a debt recovery suit sworn to by a legal practitioner, Francis Oloruntoba, filed and argued before the court by Owolabi on behalf of AMCON, P C Outlet Limited belonging to Okonjo registered in Nigeria to carry on business of trading, marketing, sales and distribution of general goods was advanced various facilities by Eligible Financial Institution between September 7, 2007 to October 15, 2008.
The various facilities, it was also gathered, were secured by the full and unconditional personal guarantee of Okonjo, while his wife Udokanma Mary Ane executed a third-party legal Mortgage as security for the facility obtained by P C Outlet Limited. Okonjo, Njoku, and Awuionu, as directors of P C Outlet Limited, were instrumental to how the facility was sourced, applied for, and granted, and the way and manner the facilities granted to the company from the eligible financial institution were utilised at the material times.