The fall of the Peoples Democratic Party at the centre
appears to have devastated the fortunes of several politically-connected
businessmen who, as once suggested by former President Olusegun Obasanjo,
mostly relied on the then-ruling party for government contracts...
One of such billionaire businessmen, Emeka Offor, has
indicated that he is broke, just over two years after the PDP left power.
In the build-up to the 2003 general elections, Mr. Offor was
reported to have donated N200 million to the Obasanjo/Atiku presidential
re-election campaign. During the heat of the Obasanjo-Atiku feud in 2006, the
Atiku Media Office in a statement by Garba Shehu, now President Muhammadu
Buhari’s spokesperson, said a special account to finance the PDP presidential
re-election bid in 2003 was managed by Mr. Offor.
Known for his interests in oil, gas, power and construction,
the businessman and politician got juicy federal contracts, many barely
executed, while the PDP reigned for 16 years.
But despite the massive wealth many Nigerians believed he
amassed in profit from various contracts, Mr. Offor is now indicating he is
broke, suggesting that his main cash cow, Chrome Oil, has suffered downturn
since the coming of the All Progressives Congress to power in 2015, according
to correspondences seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
Some staff members of the company, in a letter written on
their behalf by their lawyer, Femi Falana, say they are being owed N1.14
billion, representing outstanding salaries and wages between September 2016 and
August 2017.
They also accused Mr. Offor of failing to remit their tax
and pension deductions, an act they described as unethical and criminal under
our laws.
They demanded that “all pension deductions and contributions
from July 2015 to August 31 2017 totalling N244,172,464.80 be remitted to their
respective pension fund administrators,” the letter said.
Similarly, they demanded “that all PAYE tax deducted from
staff payroll from July 2015 to August 2017 totalling N153,775,382.58 be
remitted” to tax authorities.
Then, “that the sum of N579,219,429.5 being the
disengagement benefits” of the staff as at end of August 2017 be paid to their
respective bank accounts.
But Mr. Offor blamed the “general economic meltdown and
recession” for his company’s inability to meet its financial obligations to
employees, saying his “businesses suffered frustration commencing from March
2015 and grounded to a halt in September 2015”.
Mr. Offor said the company had “no job to execute and closed
office starting from September 2015”.
The PDP-led government left power in May 2015 after losing
elections held in April.
Before PDP
While he started out in business with governments years
before the PDP came to power, Mr. Offor got some of his most lucrative
contracts under the PDP. He also became one of the party’s top financiers.
Under the Sani Abacha military junta in the 1990s, Mr.
Offor’s Chrome Group was offered the contract for the Turn Around Maintenance
of the Port Harcourt refinery. About that time, he led the Movement for National
Stability to campaign for the late dictator’s ultimately futile bid to
transmute to a civilian leader.
Reflecting on the condition of Nigeria’s refineries and Mr.
Offor’s link, Mr. Obasanjo told PREMIUM TIMES in August 2015 that nothing came
of the purported work done by the businessman, despite being paid.
“I explained that what I met were refineries that were not
working, refineries that were given to an amateur for repairs, for maintenance,
what they call turn around maintenance to the company of Emeka Offor – Chrome
Group,” said Mr. Obasanjo.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo [Photo credit:
dailypost.ng]
“Where has Emeka Offor maintained refineries before? Where
has he? That’s what we met. So, the refineries were not working.
“What can you recover? A man (Mr. Offor) who was paid
upfront. He had people…. after I left he became friends with every government
that has come. Now he’s not only into refinery and oil and all that, he’s now
also in energy.”
Nevertheless, TAM contracts of both the old and the new
Port-Harcourt Refineries were awarded to Mr. Offor by the Goodluck Jonathan
government in 2014, under controversial circumstances.
But the refineries have in recent years worked in fits and
starts despite those new rounds of ‘rehabilitation’ by Mr. Offor’s firms. The
authorities are yet to give any coherent explanation for this situation. If
anything, Nigeria’s oil minister confirmed in July that fresh efforts to revamp
the refineries through private sector funding had been commissioned.
‘Broke and shut’
In a letter dated August 16, Chrome’s staff warned of legal
action if “immediate steps” were not taken by Mr. Offor within seven days.
But Mr. Offor is not “perturbed”, said his lawyer, Jeph
Njikonye, in a reply, dated August 22, to the staff’s counsel.
In the letter, Mr. Offor described the claims by his
aggrieved ex-staffers as “bogus and presumptuous”.
“The totality of your claims, allegations, inclusive of
monetary claims and allegations of unfair labour practices and failure to make
remittances are with respect, gold digging and grossly unsubstantiated,” Mr.
Offor’s reply read.
“They are unequivocally repudiated”.
He, however, offered explanation why Mr. Offor had been
unable to meet his obligations to “a handful of former staff”.
IMG_20170906_125020
“Sequel to the general economic meltdown and recession in
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our client’s businesses suffered frustration
commencing from March 2015 and grounded to a halt in September 2015,” read the
reply.
“Consequently,” Mr. Offor, his lawyer said, “had no job to
execute and closed office starting from September 2015.”
“If our client’s businesses revive as our client hopes they
will, our client will determine whom to re-engage as staff and what terms and
conditions such a re-engagement will be.”
PREMIUM TIMES confirmed the closure of the company. During
our visit to the 22 Lobito Crescent, Abuja headquarters of the Chrome on
Monday, a private security agent said “the office has been locked for long.”
“As you can see nobody came to office; the office is under
lock.”
“Long long before Sallah,” said the security agent, when
asked i it was the case that the company was yet to resume from the last Eid
holiday officially observed nationwide between Friday and Monday.
Asked why the company was shut down, he replied, “because
there’s no operation; the company stopped operating.”
Apart from Chrome, Mr. Offor’s other company, Global
Scansystems Limited is also troubled.
The staff there have not been paid for two years, while
their terminal benefits remain unpaid, the employees said.
The staff of Global Scansystems are now locked in battle
with Mr. Offor at the National Industrial Court.
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