…As Gov Wike Wields Big Stick Against Defaulting Banks
About eighteen Local Government Council Chairmen in Rivers State are in serious trouble and may be facing arrest, prosecution and suspension for allegedly obtaining unauthorized loans from various banks in the State.
Already, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has directed the removal of Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) accounts from the defaulting banks (names withheld).
A serving Council Chairman who craved anonymity said the eighteen LGA Chairmen who recently appeared before the Governor in Government House, Port Harcourt, surreptitiously obtained loans from the banks without seeking official approval, as stipulated by law.
Our source gave a list of about 18 Local Government Council Chairmen (names withheld) involved in the illegal loan collection and that of the defaulting banks.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike according to our source, in a meeting he held with Council Chairmen behind closed doors in Government House, condemned the collection of the loans without the express permission of the State Governor as stipulated by the law.
The Governor who directed the suspension of the defaulting banks at the occasion of the swearing-in of the substantive Chairman of Asari Toru Local Government Area at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday, also directed the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to take legal action against the banks.
The governor said both the banks and the affected Local Government Councils that defaulted would suffer the consequences of the illegality, noting that the banks cannot seek refund of the loans because they contravened the extant laws of the state.
In his words: “We have taken a decision that for all those loans taken without approval, the affected accounts must leave the defaulting banks.
“I have told the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to take necessary steps. The banks cannot go and seek for refund from the Local Governments. When you default the law, you suffer for it”.
Governor reiterated that Council Chairmen who wished to take loans from banks must get official approval, adding that no Chairman is permitted to take loans that would, in his words, “mortgage the future of the people”.
