‘I never had any business with Ogun State,’ Utomi replies to Amosun

A political economist, Prof Pat Utomi has debunked claims by former Ogun state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, about a project in the state.

This is the latest incident in the saga between the two men over the N200 million contract cancellation saga.

Responding to the former governor’s claim that he was blacklisted by the state House of Representatives, Utomi said he had never had any business dealings with the state government before so he was surprised by the claim.

Utomi denied the claims during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.

He said: “Why should I be blacklisted? I have never had any dealings with Ogun that would make them whitelist me, let alone blacklist me.

“As a matter of policy, I do not do business at all with state governments. The only time that is necessary is when it comes to land issues because the government is the sole authority on land issues in Nigeria.

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“Why did the House of Representatives blacklist me? For what? I had never done any business dealings with Ogun State up until that point. That is what scares me why public officials can make such absurd allegations against me. I am hearing that statement for the first time in my life. If I am blacklisted, for what?”

“Not just Ogun State. I have shown that I have a book that was published a few months ago.

“I published some case studies in the book. One of the cases was exactly like what happened in another state in Nigeria which caused foreign companies in South Africa to leave the country resulting in huge losses because the governor decided to play around after he left office. After I made that statement, I was told that the former governor of Ogun state was throwing thoughts against me.

“And I then thought that this is another big problem with Nigeria, where people who have been in public office do not have the discipline to convey simple basic truths in conversation.
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“The only time I did business with Ogun State was when we were trying to develop an agricultural value chain project.”

By: Babajide Okeowo

‘I never had any business with Ogun State,’ Utomi denies Amosun appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Headlines from Ripples Nigeria.