Abuja — Senator Usman Albishir says he is not indebted to any individual, group or bank in the country, describing as ridiculous, the inclusion of his name by the Central Bank, that he was indebted to Unity Bank.

Reacting to the CBN's publication on Wednesday which listed him as a debtor to Unity Bank, the Yobe-born politician, who is contesting his alleged substitution as the ANPP's gubernatorial candidate in the 2007 general elections, said the debt only existed in the minds of its fabricators.

Managing director of Savannah Airlines Ltd, Abdul Ringim, who addressed newsmen in Abuja yesterday on behalf of Senator Albishir who is the chairman of the company, said Unity Bank, in forwarding Senator Albishir's name to the CBN, only engaged in its past character of attempting to smear the image of the company's chairman.

Ringim said the bone of contention between the company and Unity Bank stemmed from a leasing facility the bank entered into with Unity Bank, saying it was a total of N200million for a leasing facility to acquire two planes, BAC 1-11.

" All approvals to operate the two aircraft and their air-worthiness were obtained by Savannah Airlines Ltd from the various government agencies, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authourity (NCAA), Ministries of Defence, Aviation, FAAN, NAMA etc.

" All expenses, including additional payment for the purchase of the aircraft, pilot simulation, crew training, rentals for office accommodation,residential houses for staff, vehicles, hotel accomodation for crew, furniture, fittings , communication radio and radio license, salaries etc were all financed by the compaany", said Ringim.

He said however, that barely three months of positioning the aircraft, a similar aircraft ( the BAC 1-11 type) belonging to EAS Airlines crashed in Kano, killing a minister and over 80 passengers and several others on board prompting the then minister of Aviation, Kema Chikwe to ban the aircraft without any prior notice.

The closure, he said, grounded the airline. But not minding the force majeure principal of frustration clauses contained in the relevant portion of the signed bill of sale, Senator Albishir, based on the plea of the bank, was paying N5million monthly to reduce the lease rentals.

"Our chairman paid a total sum of N70 million after the ban and the company paid about N55,850,000.00 plus interest before the ban to reduce the liability under the leasing agreement.

"In spite of his generosity, as he is not under obligation to use his personal resources to pay a limited liability company loan, moreso when the aircraft are under lease, we received a letter from Bank of the North Ltd to accelerate the repayment," Ringim said.

He said the company was surprised that Senator Albishir's name was drawn up even after the company settled the bank draft it took and Unity Bank had taken custody of the two aircraft and sold them .