The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has successfully obtained a court directive to detain Sijibomi Ogundele, the Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited.
Ogundele is currently under investigation by the anti-corruption agency for his failure to complete 22 Smart Green School projects in Enugu State, despite receiving substantial payments.
The Enugu State Government had disbursed over N5.7 billion to his company as part of the contract agreement.
With the court’s remand order in place, Ogundele is now required to provide a detailed account of how the N5.7 billion was utilized without any tangible progress on the projects.
Additionally, the EFCC may pursue a new court order to confiscate funds from both Ogundele’s personal and corporate bank accounts, which had previously been frozen.
This remand order was issued by a Magistrate Court, authorizing the EFCC to hold Ogundele until the investigation reaches completion.
Prior to this, the EFCC had frozen the bank accounts linked to Ogundele and Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited and seized his international passport.
Two weeks ago, the EFCC declared Ogundele wanted on allegations of money laundering.
In response, Ogundele took to social media to shift blame onto the Enugu State Government, claiming the contract was undervalued and that inflation contributed to the project’s halt.
The Enugu State Government quickly countered these claims, accusing Ogundele of disappearing after receiving a 50% mobilization fee amounting to N5.7 billion, intended to fund the delivery of the 22 Smart Green Schools by February 2025.
The government stated, “We advanced N5,762,565,475.25, representing half of the contract sum, to accelerate work across all sites.”
“Instead of adhering to contractual obligations, Mr. Ogundele engaged in substandard workmanship, employing unqualified laborers and inexperienced engineers.”
“The minimal work completed failed to meet the structural standards outlined in the project designs.”
“More troubling, he absconded with the funds. All government efforts to engage him in discussions about project quality and progress were unsuccessful.”
“He also ignored invitations to periodic project briefings and avoided communication attempts from the government.”
“Effectively, he abandoned the sites, leaving the government no alternative but to report the matter to the EFCC to recover the misappropriated funds.”
“A joint inspection by officials from the Enugu State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and the EFCC on May 8 and 9, 2025, revealed negligible progress on the sites, even a year after contract award.”
“In several instances, excavation work was not carried out as required.”
“Records show that Ogundele has not made himself available to either the government or law enforcement agencies.”
“The government has since repossessed the sites and reassigned them to new contractors, who must restart construction from the ground up.”
“It is important to note that other companies awarded similar Smart Green School projects are delivering quality work on schedule.”
To support its claims, the Enugu State Government released photographs taken during the joint site visits, illustrating the abandoned state of the projects. Most sites were only at the foundation and damp-proof course (DPC) stages, with a few reaching block work, underscoring the lack of meaningful progress under Sujimoto’s management.
