Former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has reacted to allegation of causing the death of a contractor levelled at him.
For the context, the revocation of management of the export processing zone contract awarded by Ogun State government to Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, ZFL, was done during the time of Amosun as governor.
The latter’s predecessor, Gbenga Daniel’s administration, gave the contract to the Chinese company.
Professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, tore into Amosun following the sad consequences of the contract revocation bordering on seizure of the Nigerian presidential jets by ZFL on court’s orders.
Utomi while weighing in on the matter, hit out at Amosun, saying the now Senator, is fond of breaching contacts to the point of causing a contractor’s death.
“So, it was Gov Amosun’s violation of contract terms signed by his predecessor that brought the shame of seizure of jets from the presidential fleet. I hope he is happy with his achievement. The whole matter is Karma at work.
“The Chinese were not the only victims. One prominent Ogun indigene allegedly committed suicide with a similar Amosun action. I too was a victim. I had leased OPIC land in Lagos in a BOT agreement under Gov Daniel. Amosun stopped all such on being sworn in. I called him. He said he did not see my name on the list.’
“If this happened to Frieda I wondered what enemies were going through. I lost my weary SA partners who owned a successful regional chain across Southern Africa and Asia. I licked my wounds and slaved to pay off the loans. The Chinese had better leverage. They took it and all are shamed,”he wrote on X.
The vitriol has now excited response from the ex-governor, who hit back at the Professor calling him names in the retort in which the Senator, representing Ogun Central, gave his own account of what transpired between them.
The statement: “Before I came into office, the Ogun State House of Assembly had passed a persona non grata (resolution) on Utomi, and put its resolution in the state’s black book.
“So, I was curious when I became governor and called Utomi to ask what the issue was. This was entirely at my discretion and not because he reached out to me. But I reckoned that as one with some degree of name recognition, that should not be, and I wanted to know what happened.
“He, however, told me, amongst other things, that there was an ongoing construction in an Ogun State property that had become controversial.
“I immediately raised a team for verification and to know what to do. The team I sent said the land was inappropriate because the said construction was being done in the car park of the Ogun property on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Road in Lagos State. My team then suggested somewhere else.
“But he didn’t want another place because, according to him, the place in question gave more visibility. After our in-house assessment, my team concluded he could not have spent more than N35m or at most, N50m on the construction as of then. At that point, I decided to visit myself.
“In addition, it was discovered that the so-called work done was hurriedly executed in the wake of the realisation that another political party had won the governorship election and would take over the reins of leadership in the state.
“It was also obvious that what was being attempted was a move at ambushing the state government under my watch and presenting us with a fait accompli, a situation that would have generated controversy about the demolition of an ongoing project.
“Just so that his investment in the state would not go to waste, I committed to making a refund of N100 million as against his claim of N200 million. He pressured me ceaselessly to pay him N200 million, but I did not yield.
“As part of his determination to sway me, he deployed his Centre for Value in Leadership, CVL, through the instrumentality of an Award. At first, it all looked curious that I’d just been in office for about two years, and here I was being given an award, so I rejected it.
“But he insisted that I honour his CVL SOLUTION CONFERENCE SERIES with my presence, which I did, and I was given a plague for participating. But I did not change my position on the refund of N100 million as against his N200 million claim.”
The ex-governor further recounted, “A few years later, he complained to some people with the sole intent to malign me. When I heard, I called to tell him off because his problem was purely one of entitlement mentality. He even boasted, asking me: ‘Do you know who I am?’ Imagine! But I ignored him because I immediately saw through his true colour. In my book, it’s one law for everyone, no matter who you are.
“I challenge everyone, including journalists, to let us meet at the construction site and see the N200 million investment he claimed to have made there. Let them also ask what benefit the project would have been to Ogun State.
“Nobody can talk me down in order to look good. I served Ogun State passionately with all my strengths, and I did with my shoulders high. I stand by every decision I took, whether or not people like Pat Utomi were in agreement with me.
“Utomi knows his case didnot even have any legs to stand on. He is not different from Zhongfu International Investment FXE. He knows he can not lay claims to any lawful damage done to his investment. All he has tried to do is a ‘me too’, which is very disgraceful.”
