The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has obtained a court order allowing it to detain Sijibomi Ogundele, Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, in connection with an unexecuted contract worth N5.7 billion.
Ogundele is under investigation for allegedly abandoning a contract to construct 22 Smart Green Schools in Enugu State, despite receiving a substantial mobilization payment from the state government.
Authorities allege that Ogundele failed to return to the project sites or respond to multiple requests for accountability.
After reportedly ignoring repeated EFCC summons, he was declared wanted on September 5.
Before turning himself in, Ogundele took to social media to defend himself.
He claimed the contract had been underpriced and cited inflation as a major obstacle to its execution.
In response, the Enugu State Government released a detailed statement accusing the developer of vanishing after receiving 50% of the total contract sum, amounting to ₦5,762,565,475.25, which was paid in February 2025 to speed up work across all sites.
“The Enugu State Government paid the sum of N5,762,565,475.25, representing 50 per cent of the contract sum, in order to fast-track the projects at all the sites.”
“Rather than play to the rules of the contract, Mr. Ogundele resorted to shoddy jobs and the use of inexperienced workers and quack engineers.”
“None of his sites little jobs done on the sites met the structural integrity of the projects as specified in the structural drawing.”
The government further alleged that Ogundele absconded with the funds and consistently refused to engage with officials.
“Worse still, he vanished into thin air with the money. All efforts made by the government to get him to a roundtable to discuss the quality and progress of work proved abortive.”
“He equally refused to attend the periodic projects briefing organised by the state government for all contractors or take numerous calls and messages put across to him.”
“In fact, he practically abandoned the sites, leaving the Enugu State Government with no other choice but to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover the funds paid to him.”
The EFCC and the Enugu State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure conducted a joint site assessment on May 8 and 9, 2025.
According to their findings, most of the sites showed little to no progress, despite a year having passed since the contracts were awarded.
“In some cases, he fraudulently did not do excavation for all the blocks in site. It is also on record that he has not shown up at the sites or made himself available to either the state government or the law enforcement agencies.”
The government said it has since reclaimed the sites and reassigned them to new contractors, many of whom had previously delivered similar projects on time and to standard.
“The government has since retaken and handed over the sites to new firms, which have no choice but to start the construction afresh. It is equally noteworthy that there were other firms awarded multiple number of Smart Green School projects and they are delivering quality jobs on target.”
Photos shared by the government showed most sites were still at the foundation or DPC stage, with only a few showing visible blockwork.
In the meantime, the EFCC, which had earlier frozen Sujimoto’s company accounts, has obtained a court order from an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court to keep Ogundele in custody while the investigation proceeds.
A source at the anti-graft agency told Vanguard:
“We have made enormous progress in the investigation. From next week, he (Ogundele) will interface with top officials of the Enugu State Government.”
“He is expected to explain how he spent the N5.7bn or refund the money. His case looks straightforward.”
The EFCC noted that the account freeze was aimed at preventing the dissipation of funds, should a refund or asset forfeiture be necessary.
