After going underground, following the incarceration of his bosom friend, former Delta State governor, James Ibori in a United Kingdom prison, for ill
After going underground, following the incarceration of his bosom friend, former Delta State governor, James Ibori in a United Kingdom prison, for illegally converting the wealth of the oil rich state as his personal money, Emmanuel Olutokunbo Enaboifo otherwise known as Sir Lulu, has returned from oblivion.
No doubt, via his friend, Ibori, he enjoyed vast opportunities to make money for himself. For instance, in 2009, with the influence of his friend, the late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua appointed Lulu the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Nigeria-São Tomé & Principe Joint Development Authority, the body that manages the exceptionally rich area in oil and gas in the Joint Development Zone owned by both countries.
With Ibori’s return to a hero’s welcome from jail, Lulu has now found a way to reinvent himself and cash out from the sovereign wealth of Delta state, all thanks to his friend’s connection.
Lulu who is the Chairman/CEO of Mega Structures Nigeria Limited, is currently one of the most powerful men in Delta State. So powerful is he that commissioners and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, allegedly tremble before him, due to his closeness to the corridors of power.
For one, he wields tremendous influence in the Delta State Signage and Advertising Agency, one of the conduits through which he cleans out from the state government. Although Kenneth Onyemaka is the supposed Managing Director of the government agency, the real face behind the company is Lulu, who is the undesignated Chairman of the company.
Using his company called Swift Ventures Limited (SVL), sources allege that Lulu rakes in millions of naira privately while declaring peanuts to the management of DESAA.
In setting up DESAA, an initial sum of N80 million was allegedly borrowed by SVL from First City Monument Bank (FCMB) with a mandate to generate over N1 billion yearly, which will be shared between the state government and the company.
To run the agency, Lulu brought in his nephew, Victor Umoh to work as the Chief Operating Officer/Executive Director. But since inception of the company, Lulu has found a way of circumventing the mode of payment, by boycotting the official platform payment and using manual method, were the money goes into his private pockets. Most of these payments made are allegedly not in the financial books.
Corporate organisations such as Zenith Bank, MTN Nigeria etc pay millions of naira for signage but only half of what these companies pay gets into the coffers of the state government.
For instance, as at March, only the sum of N15 million has been generated by DESAA, an amount which those familiar with the workings described as peanuts compared to the original amount they have collected.
It is not clear if the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa is aware that Lulu is the actual face behind DESAA. And despite being given a free hand to generate revenue for the state and share profit with it, Lulu short changes the state.
As far back as 2018, a whooping sum N30 million given to them in the 2018 budget, to play around with.
Lulu’s fraudulent nature doesn’t surprise those in the know as the evidence began to manifest while still a student at the Temple University, Philadelphia. As far back as 1986, he was declared a fugitive in the United States for credit card fraud, conspiracy and abetting in a US District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on two counts. He was arrested on August 8th 1986 at 5702 North Oaks Boulevard, North Brunswick, New Jersey for attempting to defraud Philadelphia Savings Fund Society.
A copy of the charge sheet of his arrest reads, “from on or about April 1 1986 to or about June 2, 1986, at Philadelphia, in Eastern District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, defendants Charles Ola and Olutokunbo Enaboifo knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together with each other, and with other persons known and unknown to this grand jury to attempt to execute a scheme and artifice to defraud Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS of moneys in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344 (a) (1)”.
Following his indictment and knowing he would be jailed, he bolted from the US to Nigeria. His co criminal had earlier escaped from the US for fear of being jailed.
Even though Lulu enjoys his freedom in Nigeria, he will most likely be clamped on anytime he steps foot on US soil.
In February 24th 2004, the US Attorney’s office re-opened Enaboifo’s case and requested for his sentencing in absentia through series of motions and sentencing memoranda. On April 15 2004 a judgment in a criminal case was entered against him where the judge ruled that “Olutokunbo Enaboifo be sentenced to a term of six months incarceration for counts one and two to run concurrently and that a fine of $1,000 be imposed and entered against the defendant”.
A US diplomatic source however disclosed that they may have no other choice but to request for Lulu to be extradited once the embassy receives a petition to that effect, in relevance to the extradition law.
One Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies expressed surprise that Lulu is still relevant in the scheme of things in Nigeria and has also continued in fraud. The agency is earnestly asking that a petition be forwarded to them to enable them take necessary actions against him.
