Life has been a bit oppressive for South African based Nigerian businessman Boniface Okonkwo. The source of his troubles, emanating from a comment he made in an online discussion forum against Nigerian billionaire, Emeka Offor. Offor is chairman of Chrome Group, a Nigerian based Pan-African company with interests in oil and gas, real estate, ethanols, chemicals and other lucrative economic sectors.
The controversy began for Boniface when he logged on to an e-mail forum entitled Mbala Obodo and hosted by an association of Oraifite indigenes known as ocean-anaedo on its website.
The forum carried a topic on Offor’s recent donation of $1 million to a Polio foundation run by the Rotary International.
Boniface commented thus: “In part of Igbo where this fella comes from, I am sure there is no clean drinking water,no steady electricity, no hospital,” Mr Bonny said in his post in the forum.
“From my own point of view, this is display of the highest stupidity and wickedness at the international level,” Mr. Bonny said. “If Nigeria is like America or Britain, he will be arrested on arrival and taken to court for fraud. How can a man that defrauded one of the failed banks in Nigeria over 5Billion as loan, but refused to pay this money so that the poor depositors can get their money back, go to another country to donate one million dollar, and some people are clapping their hands for him on this forum? Even though I don’t know his state of mind when he was making such donation, I guess madness like.”
Offor recruited Godson Ugochukwu of Fortress Solicitors to go after Mr.Okonkwo for defamation. This led to Boniface being abducted at his Mushin apartment by a gang of 6 Special Anti-Robbery Squad policemen. He was detained without charge for thirteen days in violation of his constitutional rights and allegedly to appease the ‘powers that be’x.
According to Premium Times, “Mr. Offor was indicted by the senate in one of Nigeria’s largest insider credit abuse that saw 13 banks collapse with N188 billion of depositors’ funds.
The businessman was a director in the liquidated African Express Bank Plc. He unduly used his position to acquire loans totalling N7.5bn, a senate report on failed Nigerian banks said.
Only about N3.6bn of the loan was recovered.
Mr. Offor is also a major financier of Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party and a major contractor with the government.
Anchoff Stronghold Limited, a subsidiary of the Chrome Group, has clients that include Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria, PHCN, Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company, PHRC, Warri Refinery, and National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.”
Read more at Premium Times