Business
Enugu Govt Reveals Why It Sent EFCC After Sujimoto Ogundele
was awarded a contract worth N11.4 billion on July 2, 2024
The Enugu State Government has explained the circumstances that led to its petition against Olasijibomi Ogundele, Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged N5.7 billion fraud.
In a statement on Friday, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Malachy Agbo, said Ogundele was awarded a contract worth N11.4 billion on July 2, 2024, for the construction of 22 Smart Green Schools across the state, with a six-month completion timeline. To fast-track the project, the government paid N5.7 billion upfront, representing 50 per cent of the contract sum.
Agbo alleged that rather than deliver the project in line with the contract terms, Ogundele resorted to shoddy execution using inexperienced workers and quack engineers, with none of the sites meeting structural standards. He added that the contractor subsequently abandoned the projects altogether and became unreachable, ignoring invitations for project briefings and refusing to respond to calls and messages.
According to the statement, a joint inspection carried out by officials of the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and the EFCC on May 8 and 9, 2025, revealed minimal or no significant progress at the project sites one year after the contract award. In some cases, excavation work was not done at all, raising further concerns about the integrity of the contractor’s approach.
The government also accused Ogundele of premeditated fraud, alleging that while he presented a bond from Jaiz Bank to secure the contract, he used the company’s Zenith Bank account to receive the payment, making it impossible for the state to hold Jaiz Bank accountable. The statement described this as a deliberate ploy to defraud the state from the onset.
Agbo disclosed that the government has since repossessed the sites and handed them over to new contractors, who have restarted construction to ensure the schools are ready by September 2025 in line with the administration’s priority on smart education.
“Nigerians should therefore disregard his theatrics and crocodile tears, as Enugu State Government is determined to and will surely recover every penny of Ndi Enugu fraudulently obtained by Mr. Olasijibomi Ogundele (Sujimoto),” the statement read.
