My Dealings With Olopade Were Personal, Says Ex- Afromedia Director, Gobir, Seeks Justice Over '419' Allegation
SAN FRANCISCO, November 04, (THEWILL) – A former director and head of Business Development Committee of Nigeria’s foremost outdoor advertising company, Afromedia Plc, Alhaji Mohammed Gobir, has cried for justice, saying he had never being involved in any '419' deal as he is being accused.
Reacting to his experience on September 12 when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invaded his Ikoyi, Lagos, residence and arrested him on the allegation of being involved in ‘419’, he lamented that his picture was taken and the following day the news went viral as the print media feasted on it.
Maintaining that though the case has not been resolved, Gobir said he wants justice since he was not given the opportunity to state his
own side of the story, neither was he invited for questioning prior to his arrest.
Alleging that his traducers went to town to paint him black and make him look like a criminal, Gobir said in 30 years of doing business in Nigeria, he has never been indicted, has never been arraigned for any criminal offense and has never been involved in fraud.
Wondering why now at the height of his professional and business life he would be accused of being involved in ‘419’ or what they called ‘corporate fraud,' he said he has been a credible businessman and contractor to Federal Ministries, Parastatals, Military and State Governments.
He disclosed that it is this background in business with extensive contacts that earned him the recommendation to join the board of Afromedia in 2009 at the time the company was raising funds to enhance its operations.
According to him, he was specifically invited because of his network and goodwill which Afromedia identified and needed at the time to obtain big accounts, which he said he did not disappoint as he brought in business worth at least N2 billion for the company from the period he joined the board of Afromedia in 2009 till the time of his resignation in 2013.
He also claimed to have assisted Afromedia to set up a regulatory framework for outdoor advertising in FCT, Abuja, similar to the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA).
Gobir said the EFCC, allegedly acting on the instruction of the Group Managing Director of Afromedia, Mr. Akin Olopade, accused him of illegally collecting $3,500,000, N514,457,151.87, $2,102,740 and 51,000 Pounds Sterling at various times through a fraudulent investment deal.
But Gobir said as somebody in charge of business development, his main duty was to secure high-level business opportunities for the company, adding that it was on this basis that in one of the several private meetings he held with Olopade, both men agreed on the possibility of the company exploring and receiving capital investments following the meltdown in the Nigerian stock market.
“In accessing the capital investment, money was required to process and access the fund of which part of the sum was expended by Mr. Olopade who later turned around and requested for refunds of which several payments were made in repayment to him (Olopade),” he however alleged.
And just as in a business which went awry, both men disagreed on the arrears to be paid as the figures were incorrect and according to Gobir, Olopade did not want to deduct earlier repayments from the total sum, hence the deadlock.
According to Gobir, Olopade even got mutual friends involved in the matter to resolve the matter even as he lamented that as that was
ongoing, EFCC operatives arrived that Saturday, September 12, and whisked him away for interrogation, accusing him of “corporate
fraud” and “419”. Gobir said he was neither involved in any transaction with Afromedia as a corporate body, which wrote the petition and took him to EFCC, nor did he obtain any loan whatsoever from the company.
He is insisting that his dealings with Olopade were personal as he wrote in their agreement, saying Olopade had received repayments of over N120m via bank transfers and foreign exchange cash form lodgments into his personal accounts.
“How could this have been ‘corporate fraud’ when I was dealing with, and making repayments to an individual who changed his mind to carry through a business and wanted his money back. Would any fraudulent person make repayments when you want to end a transaction,” he wondered, saying he had never met Olopade before coming to Afromedia but that once they met in the company, a deep friendship developed between them.
He however lamented that the friendship has been seriously injured if not destroyed as he is hurt, aggrieved, bitter, and feels betrayed, saying “I need justice.”