Utomi chastises Amosun for lying, says accountants are supposed to have integrity, insists Ogun Assembly has no reason to declare him persona non grata
By Jeffrey Agbo
Short of calling Senator Ibikunle Amosun a liar, professor of political economy, Pat Utomi, has replied the former governor of Ogun State, saying he (Amosun) made false statements about him.
“Accountants are supposed to be men of integrity. I am therefore sad at the many false indications of his reaction,” Utomi exclusively told TheNiche.
It all began when Amosun admitted a contract he cancelled while he was governor was part of the reasons why a Chinese firm got a court order in France to seize Nigeria’s presidential jets.
Utomi then said he was also a victim of such cancellation of contract by Amosun.
Utomi recounted how Amosun dribbled him and left him with a debt like he did the Chinese firm Zhongshan, leading to the seizure of the three Nigerian presidential jets in France after a Court gave them the permission.
In a post on his X handle on Sunday, Utomi said Amosun disregarded a contractual agreement he had with the previous state government like he did to the Chinese firm.
He lamented that despite meeting Amosun twice, the then Governor just took him on a rigmarole and left him with a debt.
But reacting to TheNiche story, the former governor in a statement he personally signed, said the professor, a former presidential candidate, was declared an enemy of the state by the State House of Assembly before he became governor.
Accusing Utomi of having entitlement mentality, Amosun, in the statement he sent to TheNiche on WhatsApp wrote: “Before I came into office, the Ogun State House of Assembly had passed a personal non grata 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.”
However, responding to Amosun’s claims, Utomi said in his reaction made exclusively available to TheNiche on Sunday night that, “Accountants are supposed to be men of integrity. I am therefore sad at the many false indications of his reaction.
“First, besides being invited to give a lecture at the state government retreat about 20 years ago and being asked to give the inauguration lecture for Governor Abiodun about five years ago, the only activity that has brought me in contact with Ogun State government is this 15-year BOT lease.
Amosun fires back at Utomi, says Ogun Assembly blacklisted him as enemy of state
“In his response Amosun says I was declared a persona non grata by the Ogun House. I have just heard that for the first time today.
“On what account would the Ogun House do that? He said he called me on account of that. Amosun has never called me. MTN can check the records. I got his number from one Peter who is an associate of a friend and called him.
“When I got him he said my name was not on the list of Daniel decisions he suspended.
“I wonder how he was the one who called me on account of the action of the Ogun House when he did not even know I had a transaction with the state.
“He asked that I come to Abeokuta. When I got there he said the Permanent Secretary travelled to UK for child’s graduation. He summoned Yewande Amusan, his adviser who I know to be of such pedigree she would not deny this.
“I arrived with my associate Vitus Akudinobi. He then said to her: Prof says he has a project in the Ogun plaza but I did not see his name in the list of land issues. In my very presence she (Amusan) replied him that my matter was a simple straight forward transaction with OPIC it did not merit to be listed.
“He then teased that they may be protecting me. He said as soon as the Permanent Secretary returned all would be quickly sorted.
“I was working on the aggregation on fresh foods and franchising the outlets with a US group when I found someone I knew, Vitus, was on a similar track with South Africa’s Fruit and Veg City. We decided to consolidate. We wanted a good location for a showcase outlet. Realtors led us to the OPIC plaza in Ikeja.
“We negotiated a BOT deal with OPIC where we would build this plaza to OPIC requirements, run it for 15 years and turn the whole structure back to OPIC. Simple everyday transaction.”
Utomi said that after they had paid most of the lease in advance and wanted to start construction Lagos State government said Ogun did not have the certificate of occupancy.
He continued, “It became our business at considerable cost to pursue that for them. Then followed a long trouble of building plan when Lagos was quite difficult on the matter. Amosun’s stop of the whole process which led our partners to withdraw after 6 years amount to multiples in losses compared to what an accountant of Amosun’s stature would be making light of. Character matters.
“When I followed up into the third year of back and forth he invited me back to Abeokuta. I went again with Vitus. He then said he had to go to Abuja and that we could talk in the car. His driver and detail were sent to an accompanying car as was Vitus as the Governor got into the driver’s seat and he drove with me alone in the car up to his home in Ikeja. His wife welcomed us. Before Vitus he said 100m was the maximum OPIC could pay so I should accept 100m and write in with additional claim.”
Concluding his statement, Utomi said, “To hear him say today that we invested less than 30m means he was throwing away Ogun money. A 70m give away to an entitled person who ordinarily avoids doing government business to stay away from bribes.”
