ARCHIVE: Police FCID Formerly Grilled Wanted Sijimoto Boss on Alleged Fraud. Same Old Excuses Persist
PIJAlance has found that this is a defence Ogundele has leaned on before, whenever fraud allegations have surfaced against him.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared the chief executive of Sujimoto Group, Sijibomi Ogundele, wanted over allegations of money laundering and obtaining funds under false pretence.
Hours after the anti-graft agency’s announcement, Ogundele released a video denying the allegations and insisting he would honour the EFCC invitation. With tears streaming, he declared, “I’m not a thief, I’m not a fugitive. This is a contract between my company and the Enugu State Government.”
He attributed the controversy to inflation-driven delays on the project, arguing that “in the last five years prices have gone crazy, something I could have done in two years was delayed.”
However, PIJAlance has found that this is a defence Ogundele has leaned on before, whenever fraud allegations have surfaced against him.
In October 2024, the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) in Abuja detained him following a petition filed by human rights lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi. The petition alleged that Ogundele had swindled $325,000 from Kabiru Ibrahim in November 2020 under the guise of selling him a three-bedroom flat at the Leonardo estate in Lagos, advertised as a $750,000 luxury property.
According to the petition, Ogundele persuaded Ibrahim to make a 50 per cent upfront payment—reduced to $650,000 if paid immediately—before Sujimoto Construction Limited issued an acknowledgment of $325,000. But the client was later left stranded: no updates, no property, no return on his investment.
When interviewed by journalists after his release on bail, Ogundele again shifted the blame to the economy, citing the surging costs of building materials and Nigeria’s unstable financial environment as reasons the promise could not be delivered.
The same explanation is now being recycled in the EFCC matter, where Ogundele claims spiralling inflation and delays, not fraud, are responsible for the controversies surrounding him and his company.
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