Contractor who delivered wheel loaders to Obi’s government in 2008 is still battling for N36 million.

In October 2006, under the leadership of Peter Obi, the Anambra State Government approved a contract for the purchase and supply of two new Shandong Engineering Machinery (SEM) wheel loaders. The contract, awarded to Chris Okeke’s company, Auto Alternative Ltd., was managed by the Anambra State Ministry of Environment, Mineral Resources, Science, and Technology. Each wheel loader was priced at N18 million, totaling N36 million.

Okeke told FIJ on October 22 that the wheel loaders were delivered in 2008, nearly two years after the contract approval. However, issues arose when his company submitted an invoice for payment. A letter dated June 24, 2015, from Okeke’s solicitors to the state government, detailed the problem, stating, “According to the ministry’s letter dated October 20, 2006, the contract sum for the item was N106 million, with N13.25 million deducted as Tax/VAT.”

The solicitors’ letter further stated that the two new CAT SEM wheel loaders, along with all necessary tools and accessories, were delivered in good condition to the Ministry of Environment, Mineral Resources, Science, and Technology. Despite the successful delivery, payment was delayed. In a letter from the ministry dated August 7, 2007, to Spring Bank Plc’s Managing Director, the ministry indicated its intention to allocate N36 million to cover the payment for the loaders. However, this payment has yet to be made.

The managing director also told FIJ that his company tried to remind the government that they were still owed by visiting the ministry on a regular basis and presenting their invoice, but nothing came of it. Government officials insisted that “don’t worry, we will sort it out.”

According to Okeke, things carried on in this manner, and his business continued to remind the state government until sometime in 2013 or 2014, around six years after the project was completed, when he returned to the ministry’s office and someone questioned him about why he kept visiting after they had paid him.
“Why do you keep coming here and asking for payment?” asked one of the people we encountered at the time. You have been paid; you have been compensated. I am aware that we paid for that.

“Then I called one of the clerks and asked, ‘Can you please help?’ That was when I realised what had happened. The person they paid was working as a personal assistant to Obi at the time.”

Okeke said he was taken aback and made the decision to look into the state government’s payment in more detail. He claimed that after that, he learnt that Benjamin Uba of Benflo Limited had received payment from the government.
We found out that they gave him cash. The wheel loaders we borrowed were delivered by him, they asserted, according to Okeke’s solicitors.
During the State High Court case before Justice Iguh, Benjamin Uba, who was representing Benflo Ltd, suddenly appeared and claimed that he, not our client, was the source of the two 2007 CAT SEM wheel loaders.

“Later, we got involved with Uba, with whom our client had never done business before.”According to our client, Uba served as the then-Governor’s errand boy and was only employed as a stand-in to resolve personal grievances between our client and the Executive Governor. The governor was petitioned by the aforementioned Uba, not because Uba provided the things to the State Government, but because our client owed him N36 million.
In order to repay the debt he obtained from the now-defunct Spring Bank, the contractor said that this marked the start of a protracted legal struggle and the loss of his company’s Auto Alternative workshop.
However, this wasn’t the only charge that the state administration overlooked.

Okeke clarified that prior to providing the wheel loaders, they had signed a contract with the same government in which they were required to provide two wheel loaders and ten garbage disposal vehicles.
He claimed that N13.25 million was mistakenly withheld by the government while they were funding these.
After we voiced our displeasure, the commissioner wrote to the governor to let him know that something had gone wrong. “The payment was approved by the governor, but we never received it,” Okeke told FIJ.

Following this, they asked us to provide two more wheel loaders, but they never paid for them. Five years ago, I liquidated the workshop owned by my business to pay back the loan’s growing interest.The problem is that, when you consider the actual worth of that money at the time we made the payment, it was only N120/$1, or $300,000. The money is currently worth almost $20,000.
“I have lost so much because of this deal.”

After Peter Obi’s administration ended, Chris Okeke says every attempt to secure payment from successive governments was met with denial. According to Okeke, each sitting administration claimed no knowledge of the contract since they hadn’t approved it. “The current government would say they don’t recognize the contract because they didn’t authorize it,” he explained. “But the government itself is continuous; we’re dealing with the office, not individuals.”

To resolve the issue, Okeke took the matter to court, where government representatives promised to settle the debt if he withdrew the case. He complied, withdrawing the suit in 2012, yet the state government allegedly failed to honor its commitment. Frustrated, Okeke also sought intervention from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Although the EFCC launched an investigation in 2021, communication ceased unexpectedly. Okeke said he re-petitioned the EFCC in 2022, submitting documents to Chairman Ola Olukoyede, who forwarded them to the Enugu zonal office, but has received no updates since.

In an attempt to gain clarity, FIJ reached out to the Anambra State Government and its Ministry of Environment on October 23, then again on October 28, but received no reply. On November 6, FIJ contacted Christian Aburime, the chief press secretary to Governor Charles Soludo, who maintained that no one in the current administration had knowledge of the contract. “This government under Soludo came into office in 2022, so nobody here can verify this claim,” Aburime said. “If he wants to go to the media, he can, but this administration did not award the contract.”

Aburime suggested Okeke address his claims to the officials who were in office when the contract was awarded. He assured FIJ that he would direct them to someone who could provide further insight, but did not respond to calls or messages afterward.

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