We don’t recognise company, says Lagos Trade Fair Complex boss
A freight servicing company, Portman Freight Services Ltd, has petitioned the police and the Lagos State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) over the alleged involvement of their officials in the destruction of its site office and the carting away of building and construction materials valued at about N200 million at the Trade Fair Complex.
The petition, dated April 12 and signed by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Mr Philip Eze, was separately addressed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command, Ikeja.
It was titled: “Petition against Ngozi Okafor of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board, Uchenna Okafor, some officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, and some officers and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for criminal trespass, malicious damage, threat to life, and acts likely to cause a breakdown of law and order.”
In the petition, the Managing Director of Portman Freight stated that on April 9, 2025, officers of the Trade Fair management, in the company of heavily armed personnel of the Nigeria Police Force and the NSCDC, invaded the company’s land at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC), destroyed the site office, and carted away all building and construction materials valued at more than N200 million.
He stressed that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), by a letter dated February 2, 2022, with Ref. No. BIPE/18SS/LITFC/PFSL/02/02.1, allocated to his company Plot A (measuring 4.8 hectares) and Plot B (measuring 1.9 hectares), totalling 6.7 hectares, within the Trade Fair Complex.
According to him, supporting documents include a BPE letter dated November 2, 2021, the allocation letter, a letter from the LITFC dated December 10, 2021, forwarding the survey plans of both plots to the Director General of the BPE, and a BPE letter to Portman Freight Services Ltd conveying the approval of the National Council on Privatisation, dated June 16, 2023.
However, the Executive Director of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC), Erelu Veronica Safiya Ndanusa, told The Guardian via phone that Portman Freight Services was unknown to them.
Ndanusa stated that there were no signed documents between the Trade Fair Complex and Portman Freight, stressing that any dealings the company had were with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which is a separate agency.
“Whatever the BPE has done with them is non-binding on us. You cannot just come and tell me what I should do in my house. We don’t have any official relationship with Portman Freight Nigeria Limited. We did not conclude anything with them.
“We have not signed any documents granting them land use. The land is under the purview of the Lagos International Trade Fair Management Board, and the management has not leased any land to them. That is why I’m asking you—do you have a document showing that we leased land to him?”
When asked about the alleged destruction of the company’s property on site, she claimed they were trying to prevent the firm from engaging in criminal activities within the Trade Fair Complex.
She said, “Assuming, without conceding, that there was destruction—if there was illegal bunkering on federal government property, as the executive director overseeing that land, I have the right to dismantle an illegal setup harbouring criminals, drugs, and dangerous arms. Tell me—is that destruction? Do I have the right or don’t I?”
However, Eze stressed that the firm’s ownership of Plots A and B had been investigated by the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (SCID), Panti, Lagos, and resolved in their favour.
“The investigation report was dated January 14, 2025. A letter from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), dated August 21, 2023, was also sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, based on a request by the then DCP (SCID) dated June 21, 2023, to the Director General of the BPE.
“My ownership of the land was also confirmed in a BPE letter dated October 19, 2022, to the Executive Director of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board, and in a letter from the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment dated December 19, 2024, to the same executive director.”
Meanwhile, the Commandant of the NSCDC, Lagos State Command, Mr Adedotun Keshinro, confirmed receipt of the petition and stated that investigations were underway, with a promise to discipline any official found culpable.
As of press time, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, had yet to respond to inquiries about the incident.
Also, Ngozi Okafor, who was alleged to have led the security personnel to the site, denied being present during the incident.
