By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Ecobank has been given the authority to sell an asset belonging to Obat Oil and Petroleum Limited, with proceeds to be used to offset a debt worth N5 billion.
The authorisation was given on Thursday by Justice Hassan Babangida of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja.
The property to be sold by Ecobank, which filed the suit before the court, is Febson Hotels & Malls, located on Plot 2425, Herbert Macaulay Way, Abuja.
The lender dragged Obat Oil, owned by the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom of Ondo State, Mr Fedrick Akinruntan, to court, claiming that the firm failed to honour an earlier agreement reached for the sale of the hospitality company to pay back the N5 billion debt.
According to the counsel to Ecobank, Mr Kunle Ogunba (SAN), there was an initial agreement between both parties on the sale of the hotel, which was adopted by a Lagos State High Court.
He argued that Obat Oil, which promised to sell the asset by end of 2019, after informing the bank that it had found a buyer in November 2019, failed to fulfil this pledge.
But the counsel to Obat Oil, Mr Olalekan Ojo, stressed that Ecobank was not the right party to enforce the agreement reached between the parties because it had transferred this authority to a third party known as ETI Specialised Finance Company Limited.
However, in its judgment, the court held that there was nothing to prove that Ecobank has indeed transferred its power to sell the property in question to ETI Specialised Finance Company Limited.
“The court hereby orders the issuance of a writ for the attachment and for sale of the property known as Febson Hotels & Malls and the sum of N5 billion to be realised from the sale should be paid to the applicant,” the court ruled.
Meanwhile, Obat Oil has filed a suit on Thursday to upturn this judgement at the court of appeal. It has also filed an application for stay of execution of the judgment.
