ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
EXCLUSIVE: Top PDP financier Emeka Offor is broke, shuts down company

Top PDP financier Emeka Offor. [Photo credit: THISDAYLIVE]

EXCLUSIVE: Top PDP financier Emeka Offor is broke, shuts down company

byTaiwo-Hassan Adebayo
September 7, 2017
4 min read

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.

RelatedNews

Before losing South African citizenship, Nigerian professor suspended for misconduct, school says

NPFL: Adamawa United end 15-match winless streak

Court orders Ekiti State University to reinstate 85 sacked workers

Grieving parents recall last moments with children killed in Maiduguri multiple bombings

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”.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

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.

ADVERTISEMENT
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

“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 officer, when asked if 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.

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (74)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

‎Resident doctors strike continues despite meeting with govt delegation

Next Post

Atiku cries out: Buhari, APC side-lined me after I helped win 2015 elections

Taiwo-Hassan Adebayo

Taiwo-Hassan Adebayo

More News

Abubakar Malami [Photo: The Guardian]

Justice ministry has become ‘revenue-generating entity’ under Malami – Official

February 25, 2021
Dubawa

Dubawa sends forth 2020 fact-checking fellows

February 25, 2021
Mr Ijeoma’s school said he had been suspended for alleged misconduct before he was expelled from South Africa. Credit: Mr Ijeoma’s Facebook Page

Before losing South African citizenship, Nigerian professor suspended for misconduct, school says

February 25, 2021
Nigerian Army fighting Boko Haram

EXCLUSIVE: Untold story of how Nigerian troops crushed Boko Haram to retake Borno town

February 25, 2021
President Muhammadu Buhari [Photo: © Presidency]

Insecurity: Buhari rules out amnesty for bandits, terrorists

February 25, 2021
Itse Sagay

New EFCC Chair: Malami may not allow Bawa operate independently -Sagay

February 25, 2021
Next Post
Buhari and Atiku will contest for the presidential flag of the All Progressives Congress.

Atiku cries out: Buhari, APC side-lined me after I helped win 2015 elections

Amaechi inaugurates six-member committee to restructure Maritime Academy, Oron

Amaechi inaugurates six-member committee to restructure Maritime Academy, Oron

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,624,822 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert

Zenith Advert
ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.