Will Billionaire Jimoh Ibrahim Lose his Fortune? Here is why he may go down

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the agency tasked with the job of recovering non-performing loans in the country, has clamped down on assets owned by Nigerian billionaire Jimoh Ibrahim.

AMCON secured a court order that ratified the seizure of Ibrahim’s properties as the businessman is said to be a chronic debtor. 

This is not the first time AMCON is coming after Ibrahim. In July 2019, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had set up a task force, with the mandate to devise means of recovering N5 trillion debt owed to AMCON by Nigeria’s biggest debtors.

Jimoh Ibrahim’s company, NICON Investments Limited, was number two on the top 20 debtors’ list released by AMCON in 2019.

Here is what we know about the latest AMCON take-over.

1. Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos, granted AMCON’s request to seize Jimoh Ibrahim’s “prime assets” on Wednesday, November 8, 2020.

2. Ibrahim is said to be owing over N69.4 billion.

3. Some of his seized assets include NICON Investment Limited building located in Abuja, NICON Hotels Limited building (Abuja), Abuja International Hotels Limited building, the former Allied Bank building (Apapa, Lagos), NICON Building at No. 40, Madeira Street, Maitama, Abuja and the NICON Hotels building at Plot 3, Road 3, Victoria Garden City, Lagos.

4. The court also ordered the freezing of the bank accounts belonging to Ibrahim and his companies including Global Fleet Oil and Gas Limited and NICON Investment Limited.

5. AMCON also took over all Ibrahim’s shares domiciled in Nigerian Re-Insurance Company Plc, NICON Insurance Company Plc, Nigeria Stockbrokers Limited (NSL), and NICON Trustees Limited.

Recall that Ibrahim, who also has a history of owing workers’ salaries, wound down his media company, Newswatch Times, in 2016 after the firm plunged into a financial crisis. Before the company was closed down, its staff claimed they were owed 14 months’ salary.

A similar fate befell Air Nigeria, also owned by Ibrahim. The staff of the airline had dragged the billionaire to court in 2012 over their unpaid salaries. The firm, which was the second-largest local airline in Nigeria, was eventually grounded after running into huge debt.