MILITARY OFFICERS CHALLENGE BANKS ON STOCKS LOANS RECOVERY

Top military officials in different barracks in Lagos State that were massively exposed to the Nigerian stock market through margin facility secured at their banks, are said to be thinking of a showdown with the banks’ officials.

Some of the military top brass were said to have secured more than a hundred million naira margin loan through banks’ officials.

“The fact is that these officials from different banks persuaded us to buy the shares of their banks. This proposition they made even more tempting by making commitment to help us with shares purchase loans from the same bank to acquire the shares,” one of the embittered military men said.

“What we found rather sly in all these is that the banks’ officials assured us that we would make more than two folds our investment in the shares of the particular banks they told us to buy. Since they gave us such assurance we were willing to even use our property and other forms of collateral to secure the loans, now, they are threatening to take actions against us because prices had crashed and they cannot recoup the loan they gave us. They have given us up till March 2009 to pay up, but I don’t think we are up to it. Besides, we are aware that the Central Bank of Nigeria had instructed the banks to extend the tenure of loans secured for shares acquisition, and we hope before the new date is due the market would have rebounded. But what bothers us is that these officials convinced us that they were sure of a windfall if we bought their shares, it is of recent that we realize that by helping us to secure loan from their banks to buy their shares was illegal. Well, we wait for them to come and do whatever they want to do,” the concerned military official said.