April 14, (THEWILL)- It looks like this is a season of reconciliation between warring friends and associates. Just as businessman, Femi Otedola and banker, Tony Elumelu have buried their hatchet, so has Cosmas Maduka, businessman and founder of Coscharis, a colossus with tentacles spread across major auto luxury brands – Range Rover, BMW, Ford, Jaguar and Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, businessman and politician also reconciled after many years of feuding. Maduka who lost his wife about two years ago resolved to let bygones be bygones. According to him, as a born-again Christian, he has since put the events of 2011/2012 behind him adding that both of them have since moved on because forgiveness is at the core of his faith, and he therefore has no choice but to forgive Ubah.
He now calls Ubah his brother and friend (even though he is at least 15 years older than the politician). He also said that he has not only visited the Senator in his house and eaten with him, he (Maduka) has also hosted him too in his home. About 13 years ago, Maduka in spite of warnings from several people, so many uncomplimentary remarks about Ubah and numerous red flags which included negative reports from Nigerian bankers, plunged in, head long, in a bid to rescue his supposed ‘kid brother’ who he didn’t quite know too well. Ubah at the time he approached Maduka for help owed Union bank N40 billion. He then approached Maduka who was on the board of Access Bank to help him out while playing the ethnic card.
By the time things which started smoothly went dramatically pear-shaped, on the table were a myriad of issues – missing or diverted consignments of petroleum products, possible diversion of over $200 million off letters of credit that had been opened to facilitate procurement, possible diversion of vessels and alleged subsidy fraud of over N4 billion, being payment received for products that were not delivered, as bills of lading were in the custody of the bank. It was a mess. Maduka had, out of trust, given him a lifeline while putting Access Bank in a difficult situation. Ubah owed him N21 billion and had no plans to pay but kept promising to pay with no clear path to redemption. Ubah simply robbed Maduka in broad daylight.
This prompted Maduka to write a petition against him to the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, brandishing Ubah as an international fraud and a threat against the state. Maduka even sued him in London over his worldwide assets. He vowed not to allow Ubah walk away with his money. Ubah would later turn round and accuse him of stealing his N4.5 billion. He in turn also petitioned the IGP alleging that Maduka was threatening his life. The long and short of the story is that Ubah never paid back and Maduka because of the principle of his faith has now forgiven him his atrocities. Their rancour has now come to a final end.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
