By Ayomide Otitoju
Sijibomi Ogundele, Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, was on Monday interrogated for several hours at the Abuja headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged misappropriation of N5.7 billion released by the Enugu State Government.
Ogundele, who had earlier been declared wanted, surrendered to the anti-graft agency and was still being questioned as of 8 p.m., raising the possibility of detention. The EFCC has frozen his personal and company accounts as part of preliminary investigations.
Findings indicate that Sujimoto was awarded a contract worth over N11 billion by the Enugu State Government. While 30 percent of the contract sum was initially approved as advance payment, Ogundele reportedly requested 50 percent to accelerate completion. The government subsequently released N5.7 billion — half of the total contract value.
Officials, however, alleged that work done at the site was valued at only about N750 million and that the project had been abandoned, prompting a petition to the EFCC. Investigators from the commission and state government representatives earlier conducted an on-site inspection.
A source within the EFCC said: “The CEO of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited has turned himself in, and we have been interrogating him for over 10 hours based on a petition filed by the Enugu State Government. All accounts linked to him have been frozen, and his passport will be confiscated to restrict travel.”
EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale confirmed that Ogundele remained under questioning and had not been granted bail.
In response, Ogundele maintained his innocence, describing the matter as a contractual dispute rather than fraud. In a video message, he said: “I’m not a thief or on the run. This is about an agreement between my company and the Enugu State Government. They engaged me for several projects, and I traveled to the state weekly to follow up. This is not a case of misappropriation but of misunderstanding.
