The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has confirmed securing a court order for detention of the Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, Sijibomi Ogundele, who is being investigated by the Commission over failure to deliver 22 Smart Green School projects in Enugu State after his company was paid over N5 billion by the state government.

Sources at the EFCC said the remand order was obtained by the commission as Ogundele would have to enable the commission to investigate the suspect

An EFCC source said the remand order was secured from a magistrate court to detain him until the anti-graft agency was able to complete the investigation.

It is recalled that both the personal accounts of Ogundele and Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, had earlier been frozen in addition to seizing his international passport.

The source said “He is expected to explain how he spent the N5.7 billion or refund the money,” he said.

The EFCC had declared Ogundele wanted penultimate Friday for alleged money laundering.

Ogundele immediately went on X to present his side of the story, insisting on his innocence and calling the situation a “misunderstanding” related to a contract with the Enugu State Government.

“I am not a thief. I am not a fugitive,” he said, visibly emotional. “This is a contract between me and the Enugu State Government.”

According to Ogundele, he was engaged by the state government to execute several infrastructural projects, including schools and a proposed 69-storey skyscraper—slated to be the tallest building in Nigeria.

He claimed the state initially asked him to design the tower but later redirected his attention to building schools, allegedly due to budget constraints and staffing issues.

“The governor told me, ‘You won’t make money from the schools, but you’ll make money from other projects.’ I was happy with that,” Ogundele said.

The embattled real estate magnate detailed his heavy investment into the project, including the mobilization of 42 engineers and relocating temporarily to Enugu, where he says he even suffered a serious injury.

Enugu State responded moments later, alleging that the suspect disappeared after collecting N5.7 billion as 50 per cent mobilization fee to deliver 22 Smart Green Schools in six months, being February 2025.

“The Enugu State Government paid the sum of N5,762,565,475.25, representing 50 per cent of the contract sum, in order to fast-track the projects at all the sites.

“Rather than play to the rules of the contract, Mr. Ogundele resorted to shoddy jobs and the use of inexperienced workers and quack engineers.

“None of his sites little jobs done on the sites met the structural integrity of the projects as specified in the structural drawing.

“Worse still, he vanished into thin air with the money. All efforts made by the government to get him to a roundtable to discuss the quality and progress of work proved abortive.

“He equally refused to attend the periodic projects briefing organised by the state government for all contractors or take numerous calls and messages put across to him.

“In fact, he practically abandoned the sites, leaving the Enugu State Government with no other choice but to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover the funds paid to him.

“A joint team of officers of the Enugu State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and the EFCC visited the 22 sites to evaluate the progress of work on May 8 and 9, 2025, where it was clearly established that there had been minimal to no significant work done at the said sites one year after the contract award.

“In some cases, he fraudulently did not do excavation for all the blocks in site.

“It is also on record that he has not shown up at the sites or made himself available to either the state government or the law enforcement agencies

“The government has since retaken and handed over the sites to new firms, which have no choice but to start the construction afresh.

“It is equally noteworthy that there were other firms awarded multiple number of Smart Green School projects and they are delivering quality jobs on target.”