By Fola James
Senator Andy Uba, a former governor of Anambra state has spoken out after what seemed like a long silence, on his part after allegation that he took a huge loan from Heritage Bank and refused to pay back.
Fours days after he was publicly embarrassed by the staff of the bank, UBA, a former aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on Domestic Affairs, has threatened to sue the deposit money bank for a whopping N5 billion.
On Monday, no fewer than 20 young workers from the new generation bank, in branded T-shirts and jean trousers,. brandishing placards, stormed Uba’s house in protest, demanding that he paid back the undisclosed sum he took from the bank.
The angry workers said they will lose their jobs because of the refusal of the senator to settle his debt, has affected the operations of the bank.
The senator must redeem his debt, the workers said to avoid further embarrassment.
The magazine learnt from insiders in the bank, that the protest was considered as a last resort to get the pay his debt after several attempts by the management to make him to so.
Speaking on the issue, Uba, who spoke in a statement, signed by his lawyer, Ahmed Raji, said the action of the bank workers has exposed him public opprobrium, shame and embarrassment.
Uba said as a politician contesting the governorship election in Anambra state, the protest has caused him serious lmage damage.
He’s one of the All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirants in the state, he believed the protesters were sponsored by his opponents to destroy his chances in the election comming up later this year.
For the reputational damage he has suffered, the senator has demanded an apology from the bank, aside N5 billion in damages if the commercial bank failed to do his bidding.
According to the statement, “Our client’s attention has been drawn to a video currently being shared on WhatsApp, showing not less than 25 [twenty-five] staff of the Abuja branch of Heritage Bank Plc., wearing customised Heritage Bank Plc., T-shirts; carrying placards and signages with defamatory inscriptions written on them, at the front gate of the residential premises of our client, in Asokoro Abuja.
“Despite your veiled denial, the deliberateness of your staffs’ action is founded and the intent, to wit: – bring our client to public opprobrium, shame, ridicule, scorn etc. is glaring for all to see.
“This is more so, as you deliberately picked the rather inauspicious period immediately preceding the forthcoming gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressives Congress [APC] for Anambra State slated for the 26th of June 2021, wherein our client is the leading candidate to clinch his Party’s ticket, to stage this smear campaign against him.
“Surely, the damage occasioned to our client by your calculated but ill-advised action is unquantifiable. However, our client will be assuaged if a public apology, unreserved, is tendered by you and published in at least 5 [five] national daily newspapers within a day of receipt of this letter and payment [Five Billion Naira] in damages.
“If not, we have our client’s further instructions to seek redress against you in a court of law for the same. Kindly be advised.
“We do hope that you will take benefit of the olive branch offered in this letter; the gamble, otherwise, is yours to suffer.”
Meanwhile, the magazine learnt from sources that the bank is planning to publish how much the politician borrowed from the bank, to further embarrass him.
