Ifeanyi Ubah, Chairman of Capital Oil, has fallen out with
Nigeria’s most controversial government contractor, Emeka Offor according to SR.
Ubah has
been complaining to friends and family members that Offor, a close friend of
his since the past three years, has stabbed him in the back. He is, therefore,
preparing for a showdown with Offor.
Two of those
in whom Ubah confided said the chairman of Capital Oil claimed that Offor was
responsible for his arrest and detention by the Department of State Security
(DSS) for six weeks until his release on June 20. The DSS charged Ubah with
stealing N11 billion worth of petroleum products belonging to the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The products were kept in Capital Oil’s
storage facility in Apapa, Lagos, for a fee. Ubah has countered the allegation
by claiming that the NNPC has owed him N13bn for long.
According to
one of the sources, Ubah stated that Offor furnished the DSS with information
he had confidentially shared with him. In addition, Ubah believes that Offor
horribly twisted the narrative he gave to top DSS officials in order to make
the chief executive of Capital Oil look extremely bad in the eyes of both
government officials and the Nigerian public.
Our source
said Ubah insisted that there was no other person with whom he shared certain
information than Offor, adding that during numerous sessions of grueling
interrogation the DSS officials used exactly the same words and names he used
in discussions with Offor. “Chief Ifeanyi feels betrayed because he said he was
treating Sir Emeka [Offor] as his brother since they hail from neighboring
communities. Mr. Offor is from Oraifite town and Mr. Offor from Nnewi.
Accusing
Offor of being the worst traitor he had ever met, Ubah has told friends that
the embattled Offor deliberately distorted information in leaks to top DSS
executives in a bid to curry favor from the Muhammadu Buhari government. On
coming to office, Mr. Buhari told his senior aides that Offor represented the
worst breed of “government contractors,” adding that he had no desire to
interact with Offor who first came into money through a controversial
turnaround maintenance contract during the brutal reign of military strongman,
Sani Abacha. On coming to power, President Buhari blacklisted Offor on account
of his legacy of shoddy work on public contracts, including the turn-around
(TAM) contracts at both the Warri and Port refineries which led to the collapse
of the two strategic national firms.
Saharareporters
learned that, a few weeks after assuming office, Buhari warned his Chief of
Staff, Abba Kyari, against allowing Offor into the Presidential Village in
Abuja, describing him as “a mere Aso Rock contractor”. The instruction was
subsequently passed down to all key presidential aides in the Villa.
A bitter
Ubah has also told friends and confidants that Offor took pleasure in his
incarceration. One of them quoted Ubah as complaining: “Sir E (Offor’s pet
name) did not bother to visit me even for a second. And he did not try to use
his contacts in the police and other security agencies to help me regain
freedom.”
Vowing never
to reconcile with his erstwhile friend, Ubah has told associates that he would
demand from Offor an immediate repayment of the N400m loaned to him last year
to bury his father, Benneth Offor, a police inspector who was demoted to
sergeant for extorting a huge bribe from one Ignatius Nwabueze from Uzoakwa in
Ihiala of Anambra State, head of the Rosicrucian Order in Eastern Nigeria.
One source
said Ubah would likely forego N50m of the funds loaned to Offor as “sympathy
contribution to the burial expenses of his estranged friend’s father. It
remained unclear whether Ubah would demand interest payment, too.
A relative
of Offor’s said the businessman, who has fallen on hard times since Mr. Buhari
took office, had used part of the loan from Ubah to immortalize his father by
building an information technology school in his hometown of Oraifite, Ekwusigo
Local Government Area of Anambra State. The school is to be named Benneth Offor
Memorial International IT School.
Apart from
his inability to pay his Nigerian employees since Buhari became president,
Offor reportedly owes several Nigerians. His list of creditors include
suppliers of drinks, including top-of-the-range Champagnes, consumed during his
father’s burial. The list also includes Innocent Chukwuma of Innoson Motors who
is owed N10m for souvenirs supplied for the funeral.
Benneth
Offor died in February 2016, but was not buried till nine months later because
his contractor son was looking for funds for a lavish funeral ceremony. A
fundraising committee headed by former Senate President Ken Nnamani was set up
to assist. A funeral committee headed by one Tony Obi announced at a press
conference on November 12 that President Buhari and Donald Trump, who had just
been elected the American president, were among world leaders attending the
burial. However, practically no government official attended it, apparently
because Offor had been blacklisted by the Presidency.
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