Alpha Beta: Corruption, conspiracy, abuse of office, Tinubu connection

 

BY NICHOLAS ABE

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A former Managing Partner of Alpha Beta Consulting LLP, a tax consulting outfit working with Lagos State Government on internal revenue generation, Mr. Oladapo Apara, has told of high-profile corruption, conspiracy and abuse of public office, allegedly involving former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Apara, in a sworn court affidavit, claimed that he solely conceived the idea of Alpha Beta Consulting, using his firm, Infiniti Systems Enterprises, sometime in the year 2000 and sold it to Asiwaju Tinubu, who was then the executive governor of Lagos State.

He alleged that Tinubu demanded that 70% equity interest in the project be assigned to a certain Olumide Ogunmola before he, Tinubu, would approve the project. This arrangement left him with 30% holding in the company at the end of the day.

He, however, quickly added that Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and often referred to as ‘Governor Emeritus of Lagos State’, had been in control of the affairs of the company from inception.

Apara, in a statement of claim dated October 2, 2020, filed before a Lagos High Court by his lawyer, Tade Ipadeola, further alleged that Tinubu (2^nd Defendant), had colluded with the 3^rd Defendant, Mr. Akin Doherty, to siphon monies running into billions of Naira, belonging to Alpha Beta (1^st Defendant), to third parties, without his knowledge, even though he was supposed to be a signatory to the company’s account.

He claimed that Alpha Beta had received from the Lagos State Government commission for its services estimated at over N150 billion, from 2010 to date. This is excluding whatever else the company had earned between the years 2000-2009.

READ: Court orders Lagos Assembly Speaker, others to appear before it over Ambode’s probe

Part of the Statement of Claim filed by Apara (Claimant) in the suit number: LD/7330GCMW/2020, reads:

1. The Claimant is a Nigerian and a Chartered Accountant who trades under the name and style of Infiniti Systems Enterprises of 27, Oduwobi Street, Ilupeju, Lagos. 

2. The 1st Defendant (Alpha-Beta Consulting LLP) is a Limited liability Partnership that was registered in 2010 under the Partnership Law of Lagos State with its office at Water House, Water Corporation Headquarters, Ijora, Lagos. 

3. The 2nd Defendant (Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu) is a politician and former Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 who at all material times to this suit was a controlling interest of the 1st Defendant while hiding his involvement in the 1st Defendant from the public. 

4. The 3rd Defendant (Mr. Akin Doherty) parades himself as the Managing Director/Managing Partner of the 1st Defendant contrary to the provisions of the Partnership Agreement with his office at Water House, Water Corporation Headquarters, Ijora, Lagos. 

5. The 3rd Defendant is not one of the Partners of the 1st Defendant ILP but was also a former Commissioner of Finance under the administration of the 2nd Defendant Bola Ahmed Tinubu. 

6. The main business of the 1st Defendant is and has been the computation, tracking and reconciliation of Internally Generated Revenue in Lagos State in return for a commission. 

7. The 2nd Defendant has directed and dictated the affairs of the 1st Defendant to divert assets of the 1st Defendant to his (the 2nd Defendant) benefit and to the detriment of the Claimant. 

8. The Claimant avers that the ownership of the 1st Defendant and the percentage of the capital contributed by the partners including the Claimant are as follows: 

• Dapo Apara (Trading under the name and style Infiniti Systems Enterprises) – 30% 

• Michael Olumide Ogunmola (Trading under the name and style Momo Consulting) – 40% 

• Tunde Badejo (Trading under the name and style Ebo Consult) – 15% 

• Tunde Badejo (Trading under the name and style Intergrev Services) – 15% 

9. The Claimant avers that from inception of the 1st Defendant, the 2nd Defendant has been in control of the affairs of the 1st Defendant and that from the year 2018, AKIN DOHERTY, the 3rd Defendant and SENATOR BOLA AHMED TINUBU, the 2nd Defendant have assumed firm control of the financial management of the firm to the exclusion of the Claimant. 

10. The Claimant avers that sometime in 2000, he solely conceived, prepared and presented a proposal to the Lagos State Government on providing consultancy services using his firm, Infiniti Systems Enterprises, (the Claimant) with respect to using computerisation to track and reconcile the Internally Generated Revenue of the State (IGR). 

11. The claimant avers that following the presentation of his proposal to the Lagos State Government, the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) who was at the time the Governor of Lagos State demanded that 70% equity interest in the project be assigned to a certain Olumide Ogunmola before he, the 2^nd Defendant will approve the project. 

12. The claimant avers that he then met the said Olumide Ogunmola (who he had never met before) and it was agreed that a limited liability company be incorporated in which the Claimant will hold 30% shares while Olumide Ogunmola and his partners will hold 70% of the shares of the company. 

13. The Claimant avers that following the agreement alluded to above; Alpha Beta Consulting Limited was incorporated in 2002 with the following shareholding ratio: 

• Dapo Apara 30%
• Oluride ogunmola 40%
• Adegboyega oyetola 30% 

14. The Claimant avers that upon the commencement of business operations, the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) directed that the 30% shareholding of Adegboyega Oyetola be transferred to one Mr. TUNDE BADEJO. This was done. 

15. The Claimant avers that although he was a signatory to all the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant, payments from the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant required only 2 signatories which was mostly handled between the other two partners, Messrs Michael Olumide Ogunmola and Tunde Badejo. 

16. The Claimant avers that occasionally when the other two partners in the 1st Defendant apart from the Claimant were not available, then the Claimant will be involved as a fallback option. 

17. The Claimant avers that after the incorporation of Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd in 2002 and structured according to the dictates of the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU), the 2nd Defendant in his official capacity as the Governor of Lagos State then approved that Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd be awarded consultancy contract for the assessment and collection on behalf of the Lagos State Government, all taxes and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) due and payable to the State at a 10% consultancy fee (subject to a benchmark which varies from time to time). 

18. The Claimant avers that due to the technological innovation that was deployed by him, the Internally Generated Revenue of the State grew from a base of about N10 billion per annum in 2002 to over N300bn in 2019. 

19. In year 2010 or thereabout, the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) directed that the incorporation structure of the Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd be changed from a limited liability company to a limited liability partnership under a newly promulgated law of the Lagos State Government. The 2nd Defendant explained to the Claimant that the purpose was to further shield the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU’S) Involvement in Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd from public scrutiny. 

20. The claimant avers that in 2010, based on this directive by the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU), the 1st Defendant was registered as a Limited Liability Partnership to carry on business as information and communication technology consultants and provide high quality, value added information solutions to private and public institutions. 

21. The Claimant avers after the registration as a Limited Liability Partnership, the 1st Defendant then took over the Lagos State contract previously awarded to Alpha Beta Consulting Limited. 

22. The Claimant avers that upon the registration of the 1st Defendant in 2010, a Partnership Agreement was executed by all the Partners including the Claimant and Messrs Michael Olumide Ogunmola and Tunde Badejo. 

The Claimant shall at the trial of the suit rely on the Certificate of Registration and the Partnership Agreement. 

23. The claimant avers that the 2nd Defendant thereafter directed that Mr. Michael Olumide Ogunmola be designated as Managing Partner of Alpha Beta Consulting LLP, while the Claimant was designated as Deputy Managing Partner. 

24. The claimant avers that in 2014 the 2nd Defendant directed that Mr. Michael Olumide Ogunmola should cease being the Managing Partner and the Claimant then became the Managing Partner with access to review the financial records. 

25. Sometime in 2016, the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) told the Claimant that he (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) has received feedback that Claimant was reviewing past financial records of the 1st Defendant. That he was displeased with this action of the Claimant and therefore intends to bring the 3rd Defendant (AKIN DOHERTY) into the management of the 1st Defendant as Managing Director to take over the financial management of the company, while the Claimant should revert to his former role as Deputy Managing Director and not get involved in the financial affairs of the 1st Defendant. 

26. The 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) also warned the claimant not to even think of exposing his involvement in the financial affairs of the 1st Defendant to the EFCC as the then Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, will always protect him (the 2nd Defendant). 

27. The 2nd Defendant also threatened to use the agencies of the Lagos State Government such as the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (lRS) and the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LSBCA) to harass and seize the assets of the Claimant if the Claimant ever betrayed him. 

27. The claimant, disagreed with the 2nd defendant’s request that he, the claimant, should revert to the role of a deputy. Instead the Claimant agreed with the 2^nd Defendant that he will transition to a consultant to the 1st Defendant to manage the technology and get remunerated on a monthly basis for this task. 

28. Thereafter, the 3rd Defendant was brought to the office premises of the 1st Defendant by Mr. TUNDE BADEJO, a partner, and introduced to the staff as the new “Managing Director” of the 1st Defendant. 

29. Thereafter, MR. TUNDE BADEJO told the Claimant that if he (the Claimant) ever came to the office of the 1st Defendant, he, MR. TUNDE BADEJO, will terminate the life of the Claimant. This incident was reported to the police in 2018 and is under investigation. 

30. When the police commenced investigation into this complaint by the plaintiff in 2018, the 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) interfered in the Police investigation to frustrate it. 

31. On becoming the Managing Partner in 2014, the Claimant sent a Board Resolution to all the bankers of the 1st Defendant to remove MR. MICHAEL OLUMIDE OGUNMOLA as a signatory to all the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant. 

32. Following this Board Resolution to all the banks, the Claimant and MR. TUNDE BADEJO then remained the only authorised “A” signatories of all the accounts of the 1st Defendant able to sign any amount jointly. 

33. Between 2014 after notices to all the banks of the removal of MR. MICHAEL OLUMIDE OGUNMOLA as signatory to the bank accounts and sometime in 2018, the Claimant and Mr. Tunde Badejo jointly operated the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant. 

34. However from 2018 to date, MR. TUNDE BADEJO, the 3rd Defendant (AKIN DOHERTY) and 2nd Defendant (BOLA AHMED TINUBU) have colluded to operate the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant amongst themselves without the involvement of the Claimant contrary to the subsisting mandate which stipulate that the Claimant and MR TUNDE BADEJO jointly sign any amount as “A” signatories, apart from a limit of N10 million monthly which may be signed jointly by any “A” and a “B” signatory. The “B” signatory was designated as Mr. Bode Oluyemi, an employee of the 1st Defendant. 

35. Suspicious that his signature was being forged to enable the 2nd and 3^rd Defendants to operate the bank accounts of the 1st Defendant without his involvement, the Claimant explicitly wrote to all the bankers of the 1st Defendant in February of year 2020 revoking his mandate for any debit transactions. 

36. The claimant has also written to the banks to provide details of all transactions in the 1st Defendant’s accounts since inception. 

37. The Claimant avers that Clause 8 of the Partnership Agreement which relates to Profit and Losses provides as follows: 

“The Partnership’s profits and losses (including profits and losses of capital) shall be divided between and borne by the Partners in proportion to the shares in its capital for the time being owned by them”. 

38. The Claimant avers that the 1st Defendant LLP has received from the Lagos State Government commission for its services estimated at over One hundred and fifty billion naira (N150 billion) from 2010 to date with the profits of the Partnership being that sum minus legitimate costs. 

39. The Claimant avers that despite the huge income made by the 1st Defendant LLP since 2010 till the present Messrs Tunde Badejo and Akin Doherty acting under the direction of the 2nd Defendant breached Clause 8 of the Partnership Agreement and denied the Claimant his share of the profit from the partnership as provided in the Agreement. 

40. The Claimant avers that Messrs Tunde Badejo, Michael Olumide Ogunmola and Akin Doherty have colluded and conspired to run the affairs of the business in a manner designed to bankrupt the 1st Defendant through suspicious monetary transfers to 3rd parties running into billions of naira contrary to the Partnership Agreement. 

41. The Claimant avers that some of the suspicious transfers to 3rd parties amongst many others unknown to the Claimant are as follows:

 a) N500,000,000 payment to SW8 Investment Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 30/12/13

 b) $2,989,063.33 USD payment to Summit Integrated Services Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 18/3/15

 c) $1,407,000 USD payment to Summit Integrated Services Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 18/3/15.

 d) N25 million payment to Halizview International Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 18/3/15.

 e) N39 million payment to Halizview International Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 3/3/15.

 f) N38 million payment to Halizview International Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 6/3/15.

 g) N550 million payment to Ocean Trust Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 15/5/18.

 h) N850 million payment to Ocean Trust Ltd vide payment instruction dated the 14/3/15.

 i) N1 billion in Afkar printing Press together with Vintage Press Limited and Lagoon Press Limited in October 2017.

 j) N1 billion OCEAN AND OIL INVESTMENTS LTD (OANDO) various times

 k) N3.5 billion OCEANIC BANK (NOW ECOBANK) various times

 I) N100 million IBILE HOLDINGS LAND (PLOT 16/17 BLOCK VI ONIRU ESTATE)

 m) N500 million STARCOMMS (ARANDA RESOURCES) 100,000,000 SHARES

 n) N1.4 billion STERLING ASSET MANAGEMENT

 o) N960 million HITV 300,000,000 SHARES

 p) N11.9 billion SW8 (WEMA BANK) 30,909,090 SHARES

 The Claimant shall at the trial of the suit rely on the various Letters of Instructions aforesaid. 

42. The Claimant avers that on becoming the Managing Director of the 1st Defendant LLP in 2014, he undertook a review of the books of accounts of the 1st Defendant but the review was affected by the lack of adequate and in some occasions, non-existent account records. 

43. The Claimant avers that during the review of the account records of the 1st Defendant he carried out, huge sums of money that the 1st Defendant earned over the years was not reflected in the accounts of the 1st Defendant. 

44. The claimant avers that the account review alluded above revealed large scale fraudulent transactions some of which are stated above and diversion of the 1st Defendant funds running into billions of naira by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants. 

45. The Claimant avers that the 3rd Defendant occupies the office of the 1st Defendant illegally through undue influence of the 2nd Defendant and is complicit with the 3rd Defendant in continuing to erode profits of proper partners in the partnership. 

46. The Claimant shall contend at the trial of the suit that all actions of the 3rd Defendant acting alone or in connivance with the 2nd Defendant is a continuing violation of the Laws of Lagos State as it pertains to Partnerships as well as a violation of the Partnership Agreement through which the 1st Defendant came into existence.