JIMOH IBRAHIM: Troubled Billionaire Battles To Hold On To His crumbling Empire

At the turn of the millennium, a certain Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim hit the Nigerian corporate world like a colossus. He was the millionaire, later billionaire who had all the magic wands regarding success and money-making. He ordained himself as the ‘Turn-Around Master’. No one could argue with him then that anything Jimoh Ibrahim touched (even if it had been dead for decades) would not turn to gold. Seminar venues, where he shared business success secrets were always filled with anxious people whose aims were to be successful like Jimoh Ibrahim. Audio CDs of his lectures were also top items on shelves. There was virtually no sector of the economy that the Ondo state-born businessman did not try his magic. Today, a few years down the line, Jimoh Ibrahim does not appear to be the magician businessman he was famed to be anymore. He has been battling in recent years to stay afloat, after many of his numerous businesses and investments have gone comatose, with a massive debt burden hanging around his neck.

In February this year, a Federal High Court in Lagos declined an application to vacate an interim order used by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to seize properties belonging to Jimoh Ibrahim, over an alleged N69.4 billion debt. Justice Rilwan held that the order, which he granted in November 2020, subsists. Ibrahim, a lawyer, and his companies, NICON Investment Ltd and Global Fleet Oil and Gas Ltd, had urged the court to set aside the order for “non-disclosure and misrepresentation of material facts”. He urged the court “to order AMCON to pay N50 billion indemnity for its alleged failure to conduct due diligence before obtaining the said order and for misrepresentation and concealment of fact”. But the court upheld the argument of AMCON’s lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro, that the asset recovery agency made “full and substantial disclosure of all material facts”.

The judge granted the interim order on November 4. On November 18, 2020, AMCON announced that it had taken over 12 properties belonging to the businessman and his firms. The properties include: the NICON Investment Ltd building Plot 242, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District, Abuja; NICON Hotels Ltd building at Plot 557, Port-Harcourt Crescent, off Gimbiya Street, Abuja and the building hosting NICON Lekki Ltd at No. 5, Customs Street, Lagos.

After the move to effect the takeover, Ibrahim, on July 30 approached another Federal High Court in Abuja, which granted an interim order restraining Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and others from taking further steps regarding reconstitution and appointment into the Board and management of NICON, his investment company. The suit No: PHC/ABJ/CS/760/2021 dated July 29, 2021 and filed on July 30, 2021 by attorneys to the applicants, C.I. Okpoko, SAN, and C.C. Ogbonna Esq, prayed for an interim order to set down the instant suit for accelerated hearing. The presiding judge, A.R. Mohammed granted the prayers, ruling that an order is made setting down the instant suit for accelerated hearing. The interim order shall last for 14 days only in order to prevent the res and enable the court to take the motion on notice for interlocutory order of injunction.

Meanwhile, from all indications, these last minutes efforts by the businessman to halt the takeover of his assets may not yield much results. The AMCON takeover is imminent, our sources hinted. It has taken years for him to source funds to settle the almost N70 billion debts that he accumulated as his investments and businesses ran into troubled waters in recent years.

These latest developments are coming on the heels of many of the businesses set up by Ibrahim in several sectors including; aviation, hospitality, oil and gas, automobile sales, media and others that have either packed up or have been acquired by other investors. These include, Air Nigeria, Global Fleet Autos, Energy Oil, National Daily, and others.