One of the Presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Kwara State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki has denied the allegation that he is owing the sum of N7bn being outstanding debt of three companies allegedly linked to him in the petition the former Executive Vice Chairman of Intercontinental Bank, Chief Erastus Akingbola sent to the Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

In a statement by Fatigun Akintoba, Special Adviser (Communication and (Strategy) to Governor Saraki, he described the claim as frivolous, mischievous and a calculated attempt to mislead the unsuspecting public and drag his name into the mud.
He said that the allegation that Dr Saraki owned three companies Limkers Nigeria Limited, Skyview Properties and Joy Petroleum, which all enjoyed the controversial waivers from Intercontinental Bank Plc as unfounded

According to the statement, “To put the record straight, it is no longer news that Dr Saraki had resigned his appointment as a Director in all companies that he has had interests, including the two in the petition, Limkers Nigeria Limited and Skyview Properties Limited just as he is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the two companies as portrayed by Akingbola.
Neither the governor nor any member of his family was at any time whatsoever a shareholder or director of Joy Petroleum Limited.
As regards the other two companies, the governor wish to state that Limkers Nig. Ltd., which was alleged to be owing the sum of N1.89bn, has paid N1.7bn, which accounts for over 90% of the loan.

Therefore, the issue of waiver does not arise. Regarding Skyview Properties, the purported loan as a Margin facility, which gave the total control of the management of the said shares, for which the loan was secured to the bank.
In addition to the value of the shares, the company went ahead to pay N343 million.
This should be noted, as in similar situations, other customers have insisted that their exposures are only covered to the extent of the values of the shares in the books of the banks.
On the issue of Lai Alabi, he said he is not an ex-staff of Governor Saraki as claimed by Akingbola.

This is not the first bank in which Alabi has been saddled with such responsibility by CBN. He had done it at Spring Bank and Wema Bank before the emergence of Lamido Sanusi.î The Special Adviser to Governor Saraki said. According to the aide of the governor, ìIt should also be noted that Alabiís involvement in Shonga Holdings Limited as a non-executive chairman was a service to his home State based purely on merit. Shonga Holdings does not belong to Governor Saraki but a registered corporate
entity owned by the new Nigerian farmers and four major banks as shareholders; and it is the holding company for commercial farming enterprise.

However, the statement said, that it is unfortunate that the issues raised in the petition were laced with political mischief and a
calculated ploy to heat up the polity and distract the public attention from Akingbolaís ineptitude and inadequacies.
Sarakiís aide also said on the issue of the merger between SGBN and Intercontinental Bank, contrary to Akingbolaís claim in the petition, the failure of the merger did not affect the relationship between Akingbola and Governor Saraki, because after the merger
deadlock, Akingbola came to seek the favour of Governor Saraki on the survival of Intercontinental Bank.The statement further said, ìFirst he did a letter to Governor Saraki to intervene on his behalf from the late President Umaru Musa YaríAdua to give Intercontinental Bank more time to build their capital. It was after the merger that he also came to ask Governor Saraki to plead with the then Hon. Minister for transport, Alhaji Bio Ibrahim to get lucrative account of the ministry of transport and its parastatals
like Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Safety Agency (NMSA), Nigeria Shippers Council, Nigeria Railway Corporation and National Inland Water Ways.

Governor Saraki has no single Share in Intercontinental Bank; therefore, the issue of his running the bank by proxy does not arise. Also the claim that Gov. Saraki was instrumental to the appointment of Lamido as CBN governor, who in turn choose Lai Alabi to replace Akingbola as MD of Intercontinental Bank is baseless and unfounded. Gov. Saraki therefore charge Akingbola to face and address the problems at hand rather than shifting blames and giving political colouration after he had been found wanting of breaching the public trust,î the governorís aide said in the statement.