According to the government, the Sujimoto CEO received funds for the project but later disappeared without completing the work.
On Friday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declared the real estate developer wanted for alleged diversion of funds and money laundering.
Shortly after, a video of Olasijibomi Ogundele in tears surfaced online, where he denied the allegations.
He claimed the accusations came from issues with his contract in Enugu State, which he took on despite safety risks and rising costs.
“I am not a thief, I am not a fugitive,” Ogundele said, while blaming inflation and attacks on his workers for delays.
The Sujimoto CEO pointed out that the cost of cement had jumped from N7,000 to N10,000 per bag.
On Friday night, Enugu’s commissioner for information, Malachy Agbo, issued a statement dismissing Ogundele’s video as “theatrics and crocodile tears.”
Agbo accused the developer of “premeditated fraud,” alleging that Ogundele secured the contract with a bond from Jaiz Bank but diverted payments into a Zenith Bank account, leaving Jaiz Bank free of responsibility.
The commissioner explained that the N11.4 billion contract was awarded on July 2, 2024, with a six-month completion timeline.
According to him, Enugu government paid Ogundele N5.7 billion upfront in order to speed up delivery of the project.
However, Agbo said the developer failed to deliver quality work, used unqualified workers and engineers, and produced structures that did not meet the approved designs.
He further alleged that Ogundele later abandoned the project entirely, stopped answering calls, and ignored invitations for meetings.
“Rather than play to the rules of the contract to deliver quality projects for furnishing and equipping ahead of September 2025 school resumption, in line with the priority placed on the Smart Green Schools initiative by the government, Mr Ogundele resorted to shoddy jobs and the use of inexperienced workers and quack engineers,” the statement reads.
“None of his sites met the structural integrity of the projects as specified in the structural drawing.
“Worse still, he vanished into thin air with the money. All efforts made by the government to get him to a roundtable proved abortive.”
Agbo revealed that a joint inspection by EFCC officials and state representatives in May 2025 revealed that little to no work had been done on the 22 school sites one year after the award.
He noted that some sites had not even been excavated which led the EFCC to declare the Sujimoto CEO wanted.
Following the findings, the state reassigned the projects to other contractors and vowed to recover the money.
“Nigerians should disregard his theatrics and crocodile tears,” Agbo added.
“The Enugu state government will surely recover every penny of Ndi Enugu obtained by Olasijibomi Ogundele.”
KanyiDaily recalls that in 2022, controversial singer Portable landed a multi-million Naira deal with construction company, Sujimoto.
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