Sixteen years after executing a procurement contract from the Anambra State government under Mr. Peter Obi, an Anambra contractor, Chris Ikem Okeke is still fighting to get paid for job done. This revelation was made in a publication by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), an independent, not-for-profit organisation that seeks to combats injustice and hold those in power to account.
According to the FIJ publication, in October 2006, the Peter Obi-led Anambra State Government approved the procuring and supplying of two new Shandong Engineering Machinery (SEM) wheel loaders.
The Anambra state government awarded this contract to Chris Okeke’s Auto Alternative Ltd. through the Anambra State Ministry of Environment, Mineral Resources, Science and Technology. The wheel loaders were priced at N18 million each, totalling N36 million for the two.
According to the contractor, Mr. Chris Okeke, the wheel loaders were delivered by his firm in 2008, and thereafter filed an invoice for payment. That was where his travails to get paid began. Throughout the remaining tenure of Mr. Peter Obi, the state government failed to pay Mr. Chris Okeke.
In one of the numerous letters written to the government dated June 24, 2015, Okeke’s solicitors stated thus:
“After the contract was accepted and signed, our client delivered with complete tools and accessories two brand new CAT SEM wheel loaders in good condition to the Ministry of Environment, Mineral Resources, Science and Technology.
“In furtherance to the above, the ministry through her letter on August 7, 2007, to the Managing Director of Spring Bank Plc, approved her intention to domicile the payment of N36 million in Spring Bank representing payment of two Nos SEM Caterpillars wheel loaders and same was never made till date.”
The contractor reportedly told FIJ that his company frequently visited the ministry with their invoice to remind the government that they were still owed, but nothing came of it. The people in government kept saying, “Don’t worry, we will sort it out”, Chris Okeke revealed.
The contractor said the government kept dribbling them until sometime between 2013 and 2014, about six years after the project was delivered, when he visited the ministry’s office again and someone asked him why he wouldn’t stop coming after they had paid him.
“One person we met at the time said, ‘Why do you keep coming here and asking for payment? We have paid you; we paid you. I know we paid that money; N36 million.’ But I said, ‘No’,” Okeke stated.
“Then I called one of the clerks and asked, ‘Can you please help?’ That was when I realised what had happened. The person they paid was working as a personal assistant to Obi at the time.”
Chris Okeke said he was stunned at the revelation and decided to find out more about the alleged payment made by the state government. He later discovered that the government had paid Benjamin Uba of Benflo Limited instead of his company that executed the contract. Chris Okeke directed his lawyers to sue the state government.
“We discovered that they paid him in cash. They claimed he was the one who delivered the wheel loaders we took a loan for,” Okeke’s lawyers said.
“In the course of the matter before Justice Iguh of the State High Court, one Benjamin Uba (representing Benflo Ltd) emerged out of the blue and alleged that he was the one who supplied the two 2007 CAT SEM wheel loaders and not our client.
“Later we joined issues with Uba whom our client has never had any business relationship in the past.
“Our client informed us that Uba was an errand boy to the then Governor and was merely used as a surrogate to settle personal scores between our client and the then Executive Governor.
“It was the said Uba who petitioned the governor that our client owed him the sum of N36 million and not that Uba supplied the items to the State Government.”
The contractor lamented that amidst his legal battle to compel the state government to pay him, he sold his company, Auto Alternative workshop to enable him service the loan he took from the now-defunct Spring Bank to make those procurements.
Okeke further said, “the thing is, if you look at the value of that money at the time we made the payment, the dollar was N120/$1, that was $300,000 in terms of actual value at the time. Now, the money is worth about $20,000. I have lost so much because of this deal.”
According to the investigation by FIJ, Chris Okeke further revealed that the N36 million was not the only money he was being owed by the Obi administration. He stated that before delivering the wheel loaders, they had executed a contract for Peter Obi government where they were asked to supply 10 waste disposal vehicles and two wheel loaders.
Okeke alleged that while the state government was paying for these, they deducted N13.25 million in error. The company complained about this and after the Commissioner wrote to Peter Obi, he approved the payment but it was never paid to Chris Okeke’s company. This was before they were given contract to supply the two additional wheel loaders, which were also not paid for by the Peter Obi administration until he left office.
According to Chris Okeke, since Peter Obi left office in 2014, successive governments in Anambra State have always told him they don’t know anything about the contract anytime he makes his case for payment to the state government.
This fresh revelation from Chris Okeke is raising dust on the possible dirty financial deals that took place in Anambra State under Governor Peter Obi. The mention of Benjamin Uba who runs Benflo Limited in this scandal is particularly interesting because Benflo is the company that Mr. Peter Obi gave ANIDS Mass Transit company to run with little information publicly available about the nature of the deal.
Also, Chris Okeke’s allegation that Benjamin Uba collected the N36 million in raw cash meant to be paid to his company through Spring Bank fuels speculation that Mr. Peter Obi was likely using Benjamin Uba to loot money in cash during his tenure.
In June 2009, the police had intercepted the convoy of Mr. Peter Obi in front of Obi’s Next International office in Apapa, Lagos, and found ten suitcases containing N250 million, accompanied by one of the governor’s aides. Governor Peter Obi in his defence stated that the money belonged to a government contractor who preferred to carry cash to buy vehicles ordered by government.