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Governor’s brother, firm duel over alleged N20m campaign loan

By Emmanuel Ande, Yola 
16 November 2017   |   4:12 am
The Managing Director of Paddington and Bell Construction firm, Shola Richard, has threatened to take Abubakar Umaru Jibrilla, to court if he fails to pay him the outstanding loan he gave him.

• Money was for business not election, says Abubakar 
The Managing Director of Paddington and Bell Construction firm, Shola Richard, has threatened to take Abubakar Umaru Jibrilla, to court if he fails to pay him the outstanding loan he gave him.

Richard told journalists in Yola yesterday, that he borrowed N20million to him in 2015 to campaign for election, for which N16 million is still outstanding.

He gave Jibrilla, who is younger brother to the Adamawa State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Jibrilla, a seven-day ultimatum to pay the outstanding loan.

The construction boss added that Jibrilla collected the money from him to campaign in April 2015, few days to the governorship election.

He said all efforts to recover the money had been in vain, despite having spent two months in Yola to recover the loan.

However, Abubakar admitted borrowing N20 million from Shola, but claimed that the money was meant for business and not for his elder brother’s 2015 campaign as he stated.

He explained that he used the money to finance a business that was unsuccessful.

“I have paid N13.5 million naira out of the N20 million, so what remained for me to pay is N6.5 million. On the interest, I cannot pay because the business we planned to do had collapsed,” Abubakar said.

He further disclosed that the matter was already in court, adding: “Let me warn you journalists who want to report this matter in the media that I am prepared to take any one who writes the story to court, so drop this story in your interest. This report will affect the image of the governor, considering the fact that we are in electioneering period.”

Richard displayed the document he signed with Jibrilla, to which he agreed to pay back the money in two months, with a monthly interest of 10 percent.

He said: “Based on our agreement from April 9th 2015 to 2017 November, Jibrilla is to pay me N92 million. But, I have told him to pay me only the interest for the two months we agreed on, including the expenses I incurred in traveling from Abuja to Yola. My hotel bill is now N1.2 million, apart from my feeding and movement.

“Abubakar told me in clear terms that his elder brother’s governorship election was close and he needed the money urgently to contact some important people and do other things on Election Day to facilitate his brother’s victory.”

He further disclosed that the property Abubakar used as a collateral is under litigation and in the custody of the court handling the case.

Richard threatened to drag Abubakar to court within seven days for using a property under litigation as a collateral to collect the money.

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