FG’s “abandoned” SMEs loan

Victims accuse Prof Oba, Ex-Minister of extortion

*May stage massive protest in Ilorin

*Count us out – Suleiman, Oba

Former Minister of National Planning, Professor Abubakar Sulaiman and erstwhile chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Professor AbdulRaheem Shuaib Oba have been accused of extortion and highhandedness in a failed distribution of a Federal Government loan that was allegedly facilitated by them, National Pilot can report.

According to some of the victims who spoke with this medium yesterday over the issue on condition of anonymity for fear of being further victimised, the duo in collaboration with some appointed coordinators have allegedly exploited them over the loan.

Suleiman and Professor Oba are two prominent members of the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which suffered a disastrous defeat in the last election.

Their accusation is coming on the heels of strong denials from the Kwara state chapter of the party over the matter.

It was gathered that the SME loans for artisans and other small scale business operators in the state was one of the strategies allegedly deployed to influence the vote of the last general elections by the PDP but lost woefully to the All Peoples Congress (APC).

While some states like Oyo and Ekiti among others have reportedly got the loan, Kwara state is yet to access the N2billion facility more than three months since the exit of Jonathan’s administration.

Freedom House, located at Adewole, Ilorin and owned by Professor Oba, is said to be used for the exercise in the state.

Narrating their ordeal, one of the victims told this medium that the appointed coordinators for the loan by the party leaders have allegedly exploited them without any end in sight.

“The loan issue was sold to us initially before the presidential election in the state. They told us that the PDP-led Jonathan administration has made available N2b SMEs loan each for artisans and other small scale business operators for states across the federation, including Kwara.

“After our formal application, we were later divided into groups ranging from 15 -20 persons per group and appointed a head for each group.

“After we applied for the loan, according to our capacity for repayment, we were asked to pay ten percent of any amount we wanted to borrow”, he added

According to another victim, each of them have to pay N3,500 each for collection of forms and other documentations aside from other monies levied that cannot be accounted for.

“If you had up all the monies they have collected from all of us without anything to show for it, it would have amounted to close to N50m. We were even of the opinion that they can even give some of us loan from what they have so far collected from us.

“Now, we are fed up with the excuses and their rhetoric on what is causing the delay. While we have not gotten anything, the exploitation has been endless and we believe that if Professor Oba and the likes of Suleiman are not aware of it, they should have intervened”.

The source added that last week, they were told that the money has been domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and that the micro finance banks handling the distribution in Ilorin said they are yet to receive alert to that regard from the Apex banks.

“Our coordinator for Ilorin West is one Dr. Badiru and we have been shared into various groups, including Oneness Agbaji, Aseyori Oloje among others, which the coordinators generated for us after we had paid our ten percent. That was how it was done across other local governments in East and South, among others.

Some paid up to N3million to collect N30million, which was to be paid back in two years with 10 percent interest rate” he added.

But in their separate reaction to the issue last night, Professor Oba and the former minister, who spoke with our reporter on phone, vehemently denied the allegation.

According to Professor Oba, “I don’t know anything about what you are talking about. They have their coordinators in the state, let them go and meet them.

If somebody hires my facility for use, does that mean I am involved in whatever he does with it”, Oba added.

Suleiman said “I am a man of integrity as an academic and I have done much for my community and others exoterically in the area of human development.

“I will never do anything to exploit the people and I was not a party to it from the beginning. It was handled by some people under the Ethics and Privilege Committee set up by the Jonathan-led government.

“However, I was the chairman of sub-committee set up by the Federal Government on SMEs. When they went about collecting money from people, I was not told about it or put in the picture. It was when they have problem that they ran to me and I intervened with the CBN but the apex bank demanded for collateral or some liquidity before the loan can be assessed.

“Nobody will say he gave me a kobo or I collected anything from him over the issue. I was only a facilitator and now I am out office”, he added.

It was further gathered that the state chapter of the PDP has severally denied they have any hand in the issue and directed the affected victims to hold leaders that collected money from them to account.

According to chairman of the party, Iyiola Oyedepo in one of the party’s radio programme, the issue is not a PDP affair but that of the federal government, which is not limited to PDP members but all Kwarans, irrespective of religious or party affiliations.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that barring any last minute change, scores of the affected victims may have concluded plans to storm the street any moment from now to express their displeasure over the matter.

“We have kept quiet for too long with the hope that we would get the money we applied for but the way it is going, it seems we might not get anything out of these except failed hopes and promises.

“We may decide to storm the street with various placards to voice out our plight and shame those who have put us through this agony”, another source added.