Chief Ayiri Emami, the Ologbotsere of Warri is in hot soup. Mr Charles Aniagwu, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State revealed recently that Chief Emami was paid N800million to execute a contract and he is yet to implement the job.
Chief Ayiri Emami
He added that all attempts by the state government to retrieve the funds from him has failed and now the government will have to report the matter to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in order to recover the money from him.
Insiders squealed to us that the popular Warri High Chief maybe arrested by the EFCC soon.
Besides, Jackson Ekwugum, Manager, Communication, Government House, Asaba had also disclosed in a statement that… “It was Chief Emami’s claim in the Vanguard interview that it is his responsibility as the Ologbotsere to fight the cause of the Itsekiri people and attract development to the kingdom. Good, but we would like Chief Emami to explain to the Itsekiri people what happened to the N800 million advance payments he received from the previous administration for a contract to tackle the coastal erosion ravaging the entire shorelines of Aruoton, an Itsekiri community in Warri-South West Local Government Area.”
“On February 11, 2013, the Delta State Government (STB/10/T/60) awarded the contract for the construction of Shoreline Protection Measures (Phase 1) at Aruoton community to Emami’s company, EasyQuest Nigeria Limited at a total sum of N1,694,211,750.00 (One billion, Six hundred and Ninety-four million, Two hundred and eleven thousand, Seven hundred and Fifty naira). The company was mobilised with the sum of N800 million (Eight Hundred million naira) as per the terms of the contract. But despite repeated appeals, Chief Emami’s company has not done a single work at the site, five years after the contract was awarded.”
“For someone who professes to have the best interests of the Itsekiri people at heart, it is most unconscionable, wicked and the height of insensitivity to the plight of his people for Chief Emami to abandon a project for which he collected a whooping sum of N800 million as advance payment. So where is his professed love for the Itsekiris?”
“It is important that Deltans know that on April 04, 2016, the administration of Governor Okowa, through the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, demanded for a full refund of the N800 million from EasyQuestNigeria Limited. Following their non- compliance with the demand, legal action has already commenced against the company as Governor Okowa is determined to rid the state of unscrupulous and failed contractors.”