Alhaji Mutairu Babatunde Oriowo, husband of Nollywood actress,
Laide Bakare, has debunked the fraud and theft story against him
occasioned through a declaration by the EFCC and published recently in a
national daily.
The businessman, who is the CEO of Primavera
Construction & Engineering Ltd, added that, contrary to EFCC’s
statement declaring him wanted, he is not on the run because he has not
committed any offence to warrant running away from his fatherland.
Speaking with Niyi Abiti, the businessman said that he was miffed by the EFCC declaration
because he could not understand what the interest of EFCC was, as no
court of law has indicted him for any offence and no warrant of arrest
has ever been issued on him.
Nollywood actress, Laide Bakare, has also said that she is standing
by her husband on the matter, believing that the EFCC publication was
meant to destroy his hard-earned reputation as a philanthropist who
derives joy in helping people, adding that the story was also a
calculated attempt to smear her own name as a celebrity.
According to Mr. Orilowo, the EFCC and MTN were only out to blackmail
him because the court case he instituted against EFCC, seeking an
injunction to restrain the agency from arresting him or declaring him
wanted, will be determine on the 28th of March 2014. Yet he was declared wanted on no basis many weeks before the hearing date.
Explaining
the issue further, Mr. Orilowo said that “there was this MTN
Cooperative whose membership is of MTN workers. Their union came
together with this idea of a project called ‘Y’ello Estate’ to be built
at Okun Ajah. That is my home town and where I do most of my businesses.
So, based on my popularity and as a philanthropist who commands respect
in the area, my company, Primavera Engineering & Construction
Limited, was approached by MTN to help buy five hectares of land, which
we did. Later, they came to us again and said oh, there are more
demands, get us five hectares more. We did. The subscribers now became
much interested in the project because they were going to make it the
best of such Estates in Lagos”.
“We had an agreement from the beginning because they trusted us to
deliver. The agreement was for me to; one, buy the lands; two, to ensure
that the lands acquired were validly documented, and three, to be the
sole developer of the Estate”.
“But some powerful people at MTN then came in after the agreement
with the aim to hijack it. They saw the project as a laudable one and
they were shocked that I was the only man handling the project. They
came with an excuse that many people were bidding for it and it should
not be a one-man thing. But I have spent close to one billion naira on
this project. The agreement was for me to collect from MTN 20 percent of
the money for mobilization and then go ahead to complete it with my
personal money. And I have spent a lot on it. You know how big a project
like an Estate can be; talk of roads, bridges and other amenities”.
“So, since the MTN had decided to bring in another developer and my
company has committed so much into executing the project, I asked that
the money I have spent so far be refunded. But when they were not
forthcoming, I took the MTN Cooperative to court seeking to retrieve my
money. We got judgment from Hon. Justice Olateru-Olagbegi. We then had
negotiations with MTN based on the court judgment. Under the terms of
settlement, MTN was to pay us substantial sums of money”.
“But MTN still refused to pay us, so we commenced third-party
involvement proceedings against MTN which resulted in the issuance of an
order freezing the bank accounts of MTN. While we await action on our
money, MTN went to EFCC to lodge criminal complaints against us,
alleging theft of money without disclosing the court proceedings on the
issue. This was after the EFCC, on its own, had gone to court to
institute criminal proceedings against us based on MTN’s complaints,
which is still pending before the court”.
