Professor Pat Utomi has said former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun will be remembered for bringing shame on Nigeria.
Utomi said this in his response to Amosun who slammed the renowned economist for blaming the former governor for violating contract terms amid the seizure of presidential jets belonging to Nigeria.
Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited received an order from a court in Paris, France, to ground three presidential aircraft owned by the Federal Government.
Utomi reacting to the incident via a post on his X account on Sunday said: “So it was Gov Amosun’s violation of contract terms signed by his predecessor that brought the shame of seizure of jets from the Presidential fleet.”
Amosun in his reaction said that Utomi was still sulking because he refused to feed what he described as entitlement mentality.
The former governor of Ogun State said he cancelled the 2016 contracts because he found out the firm’s claims were false.
Amosun also stated that the Ogun State House of Assembly had already declared Utomi persona non grata.
He also described the former Labour Party presidential candidate as an enemy of state as a result of his predilection for shoddy business deals in Ogun.
Utomi in an interview with News Central TV on Sunday said Amosun will be remembered for bringing shame on Nigeria.
“He says, for example, that Ogun State house had declared me persona non grata. On account of what? I had had no transaction of any type with Ogun State government,” Utomi said
“The law of Karma it comes back to hunt you. It has now come back to hunt Amosun. He is now going to be remembered as the man who brought Nigeria this shame.. We need to stop Nigerian governors from doing this.”
Utomi also chastised Amosun for lying, saying accountants are supposed to have integrity and insisted that Ogun Assembly has no reason to declare him persona non grata.
The professor of political economy stopped short of calling the Senator a liar but said that Amosun made false statements about him.
“Accountants are supposed to be men of integrity. I am therefore sad at the many false indications of his reaction,” Utomi said.
“First, besides being invited to give a lecture at the state government retreat about 20 years ago and being asked to give the inauguration lecture for Governor Abiodun about five years ago, the only activity that has brought me in contact with Ogun State government is this 15-year BOT lease.
“In his response Amosun said I was declared a persona non grata by the Ogun House. I have just heard that for the first time today.
“On what account would the Ogun House do that? He said he called me on account of that. Amosun has never called me. MTN can check the records. I got his number from one Peter who is an associate of a friend and called him.
“When I got him he said my name was not on the list of Daniel decisions he suspended.
“I wonder how he was the one who called me on account of the action of the Ogun House when he did not even know I had a transaction with the state.
“He asked that I come to Abeokuta. When I got there he said the Permanent Secretary travelled to UK for child’s graduation. He summoned Yewande Amusan, his adviser who I know to be of such pedigree she would not deny this.
“I arrived with my associate Vitus Akudinobi. He then said to her: Prof says he has a project in the Ogun plaza but I did not see his name in the list of land issues. In my very presence she (Amusan) replied him that my matter was a simple straight forward transaction with OPIC it did not merit to be listed.
“He then teased that they may be protecting me. He said as soon as the Permanent Secretary returned all would be quickly sorted.
“I was working on the aggregation on fresh foods and franchising the outlets with a US group when I found someone I knew, Vitus, was on a similar track with South Africa’s Fruit and Veg City. We decided to consolidate. We wanted a good location for a showcase outlet. Realtors led us to the OPIC plaza in Ikeja.
“We negotiated a BOT deal with OPIC where we would build this plaza to OPIC requirements, run it for 15 years and turn the whole structure back to OPIC. Simple everyday transaction.”
Utomi explained that after paying most of the lease in advance and planning to start construction, the Lagos State government said Ogun did not have the certificate of occupancy.
“It became our business at considerable cost to pursue that for them. Then followed a long trouble of building plan when Lagos was quite difficult on the matter,” he said.
“Amosun’s stop of the whole process which led our partners to withdraw after 6 years amount to multiples in losses compared to what an accountant of Amosun’s stature would be making light of. Character matters.
“When I followed up into the third year of back and forth he invited me back to Abeokuta. I went again with Vitus. He then said he had to go to Abuja and that we could talk in the car.
“His driver and detail were sent to an accompanying car as was Vitus as the Governor got into the driver’s seat and he drove with me alone in the car up to his home in Ikeja.
“His wife welcomed us. Before Vitus, he said 100m was the maximum OPIC could pay so I should accept 100m and write in with additional claim.
“To hear him say today that we invested less than 30m means he was throwing away Ogun money.
“A 70m give away to an entitled person who ordinarily avoids doing government business to stay away from bribes.”
