AKWA SAVINGS GOES BANKRUPT
… How Udom Withdrew N6billion of Govt Holdings For Election Court Cases
Mrs. Uduak Akpan (not real name) is distraught. A trader in Ankara materials, Mrs Akpan always go to Aba twice a month to buy goods to re-stock her shop on Oron Road, Uyo.
Last week Tuesday was another of those days. She wrote out a cheque for N500,000 and went to Akwa Savings, a mortgage bank which the Akwa Ibom State Government is the majority shareholder. After waiting for an hour without her cheque being returned or money given her, she was disturbed. On enquiry, she was taken into one of the inner offices and pleaded to take N50,000. Reason: The bank is broke and cannot meet its obligation to her.
This has been the story of almost all of the bank’s customers since Governor Udom Emmanuel reportedly took N6billion from the State Government stake in the bank.
An inside source, who confided in our reporter, said the money withdrawn by Governor Udom Emmanuel was for the purposes of settling payments for matters relating to the Tribunal, Appeal and Supreme Court cases surrounding his emergence as Governor.
“Our bank is as good as dead. It is dead because of the money the Governor withdrew from us,” the source said.
According to the source, members of staff of the bank have not been paid for the past three months. Some are borrowing to feed their families and they do not even know when the salaries are coming.
Recently, the Governor wrote a letter to the State House of Assembly requesting permission to borrow money for the bank, ostensibly to cover up his bad deed.
