Business
More criminal activities of Seun Egbegbe uncovered + How he commited $3,000 fraud in Ibadan
The dealer, Semiu and Egbegbe had met briefly on December 9, 2015, at a MultiChoice outlet opened by the latter two days earlier at Uncle Joe Bus Stop at Mokola area, Ibadan.
About 9 am on that day; the dealer told SaharaReporters, a man he had never met walked into the outlet requesting to buy two GOtv decoders.
The prospective customer, added the dealer, said he was expecting a friend of his to bring money with which he would pay for the decoders.
Shortly after his arrival, another man arrived wearing jellabiya, the long robe favored by Muslim men, and gave the prospective customer some money.
The dealer, who was working when the jellabiya-wearing man handed over the cash, said he did not know the exact sum given to the first man. After handing over the cash, the man in jellabiya left. Curiously, too, the prospective customer, who would later turn out to be Egbegbe, the dealer explained, stepped out of the shop and waited outside, where he was shielded from view by a glass door.
Wondering what was happening to the envisaged transaction, the dealer stepped out to check on Egbegbe.
He found him standing outside and sought to know what was going on. Egbegbe, who kept impersonating a prospective customer, then pointed to a man waiting for downstairs, signaling that he was the one that would provide information required for the activation of the decoders. Though he was speaking, said the dealer, his voice was drowned out by music from the loud speakers hired to create awareness for the outlet.
That was the beginning of trouble. When the jellabiya-wearing man got upstairs to meet the dealer, he announced to him that Egbegbe had taken $3,000 from him.
He could not make any connection between what he heard and the transaction he was supposed to carry out.
“I considered it a joke initially, but later realized that the second guy was a Hausa man, who had innocently transacted business with the pretended customer on the assumption that he owned the MultiChoice outlet,” the dealer said.
The Hausa man, recalled the dealer, told him that the pretended customer had phoned him from a Fidelity Bank branch opposite the MultiChoice outlet, claiming to own that place and requesting to change naira to dollars.
Apparently, Egbegbe had failed to give the forex trader the naira equivalent of the money he took from him, with currency trader lured into a false sense of security that Egbegbe owned the dealership and could always find him there.
When the currency trader realized that the man he transacted business with was not the owner, he raised the alarm.
“Before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by over 20 Hausa men and dragged to Sabo, the hub of forex trading in Ibadan,” the dealer told SaharaReporters.
From there, things would get nastier. At Sabo, the currency traders convinced that the dealer knew the man who took $3,000, descended on him.
“I was beaten for about 45 minutes and was about to be killed before a policeman from State Investigation Bureau (SIB), named Samson, intervened and ordered us to move to Oyo State Police Command Headquarters at Eleyele,” he recalled.
While relieved to have escaped jungle justice, there was to be no further let-up to his ordeal.
At the SIB, the dealer and other currency traders were told to wait in a room, while the man from whom the $3,000 was taken, Samson and the SIB head went for a private discussion. After their discussion, and without any interrogation, he claimed, they were transferred to AKS for another round of beating.
At AKS, he added, they kept asking him to refund the $3,000.
“I kept telling them that I knew nothing about the money and that they should not kill me because of $3,000 (N750,000). After about 30 minutes of beating, I was handcuffed and taken to my office and to my house. My wife and four-year-old daughter saw me in handcuffs. They searched my house and found nothing,” he said.
Before going to the dealer’s house, they had arrested the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the Fidelity Bank branch opposite his office, where the perpetrator of the fraud claimed to have phoned the currency trader from. The CSO was arrested because the police found evidence that he had phoned.
Samson, the police officer, explained the dealer, had told them at SIB that CSO called him to find out if the operation was successful and that the CSO said it was.
From his house, they moved to that of his staff identified as Alfa. This is in the Agbowo area of Ibadan. They equally found nothing incriminating in the house.
The dealer said he would also later discover that Samson, the policeman, told the SIB that the found firearms in his house. He was the detained for five days.
While in detention, he kept requesting that he be charged to court because he suspected that there was a plot to make him face criminal charges and have him remanded in prison. On account of the suspected plot, many people, including one of his lawyers, advised the dealer to offer to pay N500,000 of the N750,000. The man from whom the money was taken agreed when it was suggested to him. He was told to put it in writing.
“I knew nothing about the money and there was also no way I could raise the amount suggested, having just started business. I was given till 15 January 2016 to pay part of the money,” he narrated.
While waiting outside the Anti-Robbery Squad premises on the deadline day of January 15, 2016 the dealer said he saw actress Toyin Aimakhu with a man that was being wildly cheered by policemen.
He took a closer look and discovered that the man being cheered by the policemen was the person that came to his office requesting to buy GOtv decoders and eventually took $3,000 from the currency trader.
On the said day the victim saw him at Anti-robbery Squad where Seun Egbegbe and Toyin Aimaku came to release Aimakhu’s Range Rover that he Seun gave her which d police impounded from her driver earlier that day and fortunately Semiu saw and recognized Seun Egbegbe as someone who collected $3000 from the BDC vendor. lawyers.
“I was confused. I then told one of the Anti-Robbery Squad officers that the man in front of them was the one who collected the $3,000.
The officer asked if I knew the person I was pointing at. I said I was sure he was the one. The officer said he is Seun Egbegbe, a socialite,” said the dealer.
Stung, the dealer I ran to the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) handling his matter to tell him of his discovery. The IPO, the dealer said, asked him repeatedly if he was sure of the man’s identity.
“I told him I was sure he was the one who came to my shop,” stated the dealer.
Drama then ensued when the IPO wanted to arrest Egbegbe. He was arrested after initial hesitation by police and confessed that he was the one that did it.
But his actress girlfriend, Toyin Aimakhu told the police that she was ready to offer them (the police) any amount to bury the case because she doesn’t want a scandal, the victim wanted to press charges against Seun Egbegbe but the police colluded with Aimakhu and threatened Semiu and his co-victim with harm.
Some officers were opposed to his arrest, but the IPO insisted on arresting him, and he was arrested.
He confessed to the crime and promised to refund the Hausa, currency trader. The actress, added the dealer, slumped in shock.
“I was invited back to AKS on January 18, 2016, for apology and compensation, but nothing not was done. The CSO and another staff of the Fidelity Bank branch lost their job. I incurred huge financial losses and almost lost my sight,” the dealer recalled.
Adron Homes Chairman Hosts NSE Ibeju-Lekki Executives, Explores Strategic Partnership
The newly approved Ibeju-Lekki Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), which recently emerged as the 91st branch of the Society, has paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman/CEO of Adron Homes and Properties Limited, Sir Aare Adetola Emmanuel King KOF, at the company’s headquarters.
The delegation of engineers, led by Engr. Olufemi Dare, FNSE, the Chairman of the Branch, described the visit as a strategic step towards strengthening relationships with corporate organizations that have consistently upheld professionalism and structural integrity in their projects.
In his remarks, Engr. Dare praised Adron Homes for its exceptional commitment to quality housing delivery across Nigeria and beyond, emphasizing that its reputation for structural integrity and innovation in real estate development stands as a reference point for engineering excellence. He further informed the Adron Chairman that the branch would be conferring an award of recognition on him at their forthcoming official inauguration ceremony, in acknowledgment of his outstanding contributions to housing development and infrastructural growth in Nigeria.
The discussions also explored potential partnership opportunities between NSE Ibeju-Lekki and Adron Homes in engineering, professional development, and sustainable housing innovations.
Responding, the Chairman of Adron Homes, Sir Aare Adetola Emmanuel King, warmly welcomed the delegation and expressed delight at the prospect of a lasting partnership. He acknowledged the critical role engineers play in national development, while also noting the numerous challenges facing the engineering sector in Nigeria. He stressed that these challenges can only be surmounted by engaging qualified and dedicated professionals, a principle upon which Adron Homes has built its reputation.
According to him, “Engineering is the backbone of any meaningful infrastructural advancement, and as developers, we cannot afford to compromise on professionalism. This is why I am excited about this partnership and look forward to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the NSE Ibeju-Lekki branch.”
The NSE Ibeju-lekki delegation included Engr. Tiramisu Bello, MNSE (Vice Chairman); Engr. Omolola Adetola, FNSE (General Secretary); Engr. Taiwo Musa, MNSE (Assistant General Secretary); Engr. Ayodele Agunloye, MNSE (Financial Secretary); Engr. Opeyemi Olabisi, MNSE (Technical Secretary); Engr. Oluwadare Raji, MNSE, among several others.
On the part of Adron Homes, the Chairman was joined by key members of the executive team, including Adenike Ajobo, Managing Director; Tolani Roberts, Deputy Managing Director, Business Investment and Development; Mr. Kunle Ifeanyi Konwea, Director of Brand and Communications; Maureen Echefu, Chief Press Secretary, among others.
The visit not only highlighted Adron Homes’ enduring commitment to professional engineering standards, but also set the tone for a new chapter of collaboration between the real estate giant and the newly inaugurated NSE Ibeju-Lekki Branch, with both parties pledging to drive innovations that will redefine housing and infrastructural development in Nigeria.
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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