The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has begun
investigation into allegations of forgery, fraudulent
conversion and obtaining the sum of N400m by false
pretence against Mr. Adeyeye Ogunwusi and his firm,
Metropole Interproject Limited.
Ogunwusi is one of the contestants for the vacant stool of
the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Osun State.
In a petition written by the chambers of Rotimi Jacobs & Co.
dated September 7, 2015, Messrs Sijuwade Holdings Limited
stated that in 1993, it purchased a parcel of land
measuring 30,000 square metres from the Ojomu
Chieftaincy Family at the Lekki peninsula, Lagos, and duly
obtained the Governor’s Consent to the transaction.
Thereafter, SHL claimed it entered into an agreement with
Metropole Interproject Limited for the latter to sand-fill
the entire parcel of land, and that upon completion of the
sand filling, Metropole would be given 7,500 square metres
from the land “to serve as the company’s fees.”
The petition stated that after the completion of the sand-
filling, Metropole offered to develop the remaining portion
of land for SHL, adding that the offer was accepted on the
condition that the development would be in phases.
The responsibilities of Metropole as stated in the
Development Mandate Agreement included the funding of
the development and procurement of all necessary permits
from the federal and Lagos State governments; as well as
the funding/construction of 24 duplex units on the 7,500
square metres and this was to form the basis of Metropole’s
equity in the project entitling the developer to 16 units out
of the 24.
The petition stated, “Our client (Sijuwade Holdings) gave
Mr. Ogunwusi the title document (which was in our client’s
name), including the tax clearance of two directors to
process the necessary permits required for the construction.
After the completion of phase 1, our client requested copies
of the approvals and consent, but Mr. Ogunwusi refused to
provide them.
“Our client engaged the services of a town planner (TG
Marchnata) to conduct a search at the offices of the Lagos
State Physical Planning and Development Authority. The
town planner got copies of all the documents submitted by
Mr. Ogunwusi/Metropole for the purposes of procuring the
building permits for the construction.
“To our client’s surprise, the search revealed that Mr.
Ogunwusi/Metropole had forged the title documents by
superimposing the name of Metropole Interproject Limited
as a co-owner of the parcel of land. The signature of
Professor Olawoyin, SAN, who prepared the title document
was also forged by Mr. Ogunwusi/Metropole.
“Mr. Ogunwusi also submitted a forged Certificate of
Incorporation with the name: Metropole Interproject &
Sijuwade Holdings Limited. He also forged some documents
belonging to the Lagos State Government and uttered same
to the Lagos State Physical Planning and Development
Authority.”
The petition further stated, “Meanwhile, before our client
got to know about the fraudulent activities of Mr.
Ogunwusi/Metropole, our client had, in line with the
agreement it had with Mr. Ogunwusi/Metropole, issued title
in favour of Metropole and its nominees for the units due
to the company.
“Apart from the forgery earlier complained about, Mr.
Ogunwusi/Metropole has also sold the eight duplex units
that ought to have accrued to our client and he converted
the proceeds, running into N400m, to his personal use.”
The petitioner, therefore, asked the EFCC to investigate the
circumstances under which the title documents were
allegedly forged.
In a letter with reference CR:3000/LS/EGC-1/VOL. 6/409
and dated September 17, 2015, the EFCC asked the legal
firm of Olawoyin & Olawoyin to confirm if the agreement
allegedly submitted by Metropole for the building permits
was prepared by the firm.
The EFCC’s letter was signed by one Abubakar R. Madaki on
behalf of the Head of Operations, and stated that the
request was made pursuant to Section 38 (1) (2) of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment)
Act, 2004; and Section 21 of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act, 2012.
While responding to the EFCC request, Olawoyin & Olawoyin
stated in a letter dated September 23, 2015, “We wish to
state that the agreement (a copy of which was attached to
your letter under reference) was NOT prepared by our firm.
We have taken the liberty to attach to this letter a copy of
the actual document that was prepared by our firm and
draw your attention to the following differing aspects of
the agreement:
(a) The front page of the agreement attached to your
letter contains Metropole Interproject Limited as a party to
the agreement of sale, while in the actual document
prepared by our firm, Metropole Interproject Limited is not
a party.
(b) The signature on the front page of the actual document
prepared by our firm is that of the undersigned, Prof.
Gabriel Olawoyin, SAN, while the signature attached to the
front page of the document attached to your letter is NOT
that of Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin.
(c) Page 1 of the agreement prepared by our firm does
NOT make any reference to Metropole Interproject Limited,
while the document attached to your letter makes
reference to Metropole Interproject Limited.”
When contacted to authenticate the content of the petition,
Mr. Rotimi Jacobs of Rotimi Jacobs & Co. confirmed that his
firm sent the petition to the EFCC on behalf of Sijuwade
Holdings, but refused to comment further.
Similarly, Olawoyin confirmed his firm’s response to the
request by the EFCC but declined further comments.
Ogunwusi, on his part, denied the allegations levied against
him and Metropole Interproject Limited, saying he was
being maliciously targeted for negative press because of his
interest in the vacant stool of the Ooni.
He said, “Why are they trying to write damaging reports
about me now and why not two, three years ago? The heart
of man is full of wickedness. What they are saying is a lie;
we have resolved it. They are using it to smear my name.
“Oba Akiolu (of Lagos) and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu are aware
of the issue. We have resolved it and I don’t know why they
are doing this. It is a lie that I put Metropole Interproject
Limited as a co-owner of the land; they are trying to
expose what they are not; if they chose to fight dirty, I will
meet them.”
Ogunwusi later made a conference call to a man purported
to be Prince Deremi Sijuwade, who said, “I heard something
about the petition and I will say it should be
discountenanced. I am not sure those things written in the
petition are correct; we will come up with an official
statement in that regard.”
The head of the kingmakers and the Obalufe of Iremo
quarter, Ile-Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin, when contacted on
the telephone by one of our correspondents, said he was not
aware that a petition had been written to the EFCC against
Ogunwusi or any of the contestants for the throne.
“I am not aware of such a petition. It is not to my
knowledge,” he said.
Asked if the kingmakers could use such a petition to screen
out the contestant, Omisakin stated, “Until I get to know, I
won’t make any comment.”
Ogunwusi had on September 19 distributed transformers
worth N250m to some communities in Ile-Ife, which had
been in darkness for a long period due to faulty
transformers.
Mr. Leke Ijiyode, who represented him at the ceremony,
said Ogunwusi did not distribute the transformers in order
to be selected as the next Ooni, but because he had been
involved in philanthropic gestures in the community before
now.
He said the contestant had been involved in assisting
indigenes of Ile-Ife in tertiary institutions and other
forms of humanitarian services long before the demise of
Oba Okunade Sijuwade.
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