Philanthropist, Firm Disagree over Gas Plant Contract

By Kayode Fasua

The last may not have been heard on the crisis over the construction of four gas plants awarded to an oil firm, Moahz Oil & Gas Ltd, by notable philanthropist, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku.

Moahz Oil at the weekend, expressed disappointment in its client, Ajanaku, for reportedly accusing it of shoddy performance, days after it had publicly commended the company for a job well done.

Ajanaku who is President of O’odua Youths Worldwide, had last week disowned a purported commendation statement credited to him in favour of Moahz Oil and Gas Limited.

In a statement he issued, Ajanaku had said, “I will never commend Moahz Oil and Gas Limited considering my experience with the organisation.

“I was shocked to see the statement credited to me in some dailies , where it was stated that I commended Moahz Oil and Gas Limited for thoroughness and competence.”

Ajanaku alleged that the company’s incompetence and inefficiency cost his company several millions of naira to correct jobs done by the same company that ignorantly used his name to boost it.

But in a swift reply through a statement made available to THISDAY, authorities of Moahz Oil and Gas averred that Ajanaku and his company only came up with “libellous publications” to avoid their overdue financial obligations to Moahz.

The statement with the title, “Re: Ajanaku Rotimi Disclaims a published Statement dated 13th April, 2021 Credited To Him on commendation of Moahz Oil & Gas Limited”, also explained in detail, the business transaction between Ajanaku’s company and Moahz Oil and Gas.

The statement read in part, “The attention of the management of Moahz Oil & Gas Limited has been drawn to a libellous publication by Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku in both the traditional and social media platforms, purportedly disclaiming a statement credited to him commending the exceptional services delivery of the company few months ago.

“Ordinarily, Moahz Oil & Gas Limited would not have joined issues with authors of the publication not only because the said disclaimed commendation was unsolicited and it is within the right of the maker to retract same, but also because of the respect the company hitherto had for the maker.

“However, the publication didn’t stop at the disclaimer but it went further to make some false and disparaging allegations apparently meant to tarnish the hard-earned reputation/integrity which the company has built over the years.”

The construction firm noted that it was inconceivable that a person of Ajanaku’s status would in July, 2021 disclaim a statement he published on his personal social media handles almost four months ago, as he later claimed that the said statement was not authored by him or with his knowledge, “without naming the culprits behind such publication.

“It is not our intention to join issues with Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku who is still our client as doing so could end up exposing the real personality behind the façade of the wealthy philanthropist that he projects himself to be.

“Therefore, while clearing misconceptions, efforts will be made to avoid exposing unnecessary details about the author of the libellous publication.

Moahz, however, explained that it has business dealings with Duxoil Ltd owned by Ajanaku, for the construction of about four gas plants, two of which had been fully completed and delivered, and that trading has commenced in one of the completed plants, while two others were at different stages of construction.

“Due to the satisfactory delivery of our company on the completed projects, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku issued unsolicited commendations on his social media handles, praising the expertise of our company which he is now making futile efforts to disclaim.

Despite his failure to pay our company the balance of the contract sum in respect of the completed gas plants, Asiwaju Rotimi Ajanaku has been making demands which involve the company making huge financial commitments beyond the terms of the contract between the parties and the management of the company,” Mohaz averred.

It noted with regret that it had only continued to accede to such “unreasonable demands in the hope of maintaining the relationship”

“Ajanaku’s unjustifiable financial demands on the company remained unceasing and it then dawned on us that Duxoil Ltd or its owner is cleverly in a scheme aimed at avoiding the offsetting of its indebtedness to our company which currently stands at over N50m, using various devices,” the firm further claimed.