Professor of political economy, Pat Utomi, has replied former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, saying the ex-governor made false statements about him.

It all began when Amosun admitted a contract he cancelled while he was governor was part of the reasons why a Chinese firm got a court order in France to seize Nigeria’s presidential jets.

Utomi then said he was also a victim of such cancellation of contract by Amosun.

The former governor reacted, saying the professor, a former presidential candidate, was declared an enemy of the state by the State House of Assembly before he became governor.

However, responding to the claims, Utomi said in his reaction on Sunday night that, “Accountants are supposed to be men of integrity. I am therefore sad at the many false indications of his reaction.

“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 the Ogun state government is this 15 year BOT lease.

“In his response Amosun says 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 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 Perm Sec 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 said that after they had paid most of the lease in advance and wanted to start construction Lagos State Government said Ogun did not have the certificate of occupancy.

He continued, “It became our business at considerable cost to pursue that for them. Then followed a long trouble of building plans when Lagos was quite difficult on the matter. Amosun’s stop of the whole process which led our partners to withdraw after 6 years amounts 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 backs 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 N100m was the maximum OPIC could pay so I should accept N100m and write in with an additional claim.”

Concluding his statement, he said, “To hear him say today that we invested less than N30m means he was throwing away Ogun money. A N70m giveaway to an entitled person who ordinarily avoids doing government business to stay away from bribes.”