TRAGEDY: APC Chieftain Loses Leg After Petrol Trucks' Theft

Babatunde Ogunleye, sometimes ago, vied for the chairmanship position in a local council election in Osun State under the then Action Congress (now the All Progressive Congress, APC), but suffered defeat.

Oguleye had attempted life, lived for spectacle, dash and flash. However, the owner of Babog Investment International Limited, a phony investment company that, in 2011, allegedly duped 16 banks and several unsuspecting Nigerians of over N3billion in a monumental loan tripping, forgery and operation of an illegal wonder bank, has currently procured for himself a great grief.

Then, Babog and her sister companies, Thriller Endeavours, Bag-Eros and Bately World swindled banks by forging contract award documents, C of O and invoices; using them to obtain loans, which they failed to repay.

With several offices across Lagos and its office at 3, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja, as the headquarters, the Babog Group is believed to be a house of fraud, where contract award documents, and invoices from blue-chip companies as well as property certificates of occupancy are forged and forwarded to banks, requesting for loan facilities to execute phony contracts.

At one time or another, invented contract award letters from Dangote Pasta Limited, John Holt, PZ Industries, Ragolis Water among others, requesting Babog or her sister companies to render one service, were used to defraud banks.

The collateral for these loans took the shape of the contract award letters. Despite the fact that they were all cloned, most of the banks granted the company’s requests. At the last count, 16 banks availed them of about N22 million loan with the least loan from a bank running into N22 million. Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Diamond Bank, Wema Bank, UBA Bank were some of the banks that fell victims.

It was gathered that apart from banks, some micro-finance houses were also victims of the financial crime of the company, and its subsidiaries, which the representative of Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, first cousin, Lukmon Erogbogbo and others sit as directors ( company letter-head, which has Hon. Dabiri’s name on it pictured right.

One of such victims is Cash Link, which was swindled out of several millions of naira through fraudulent motor lease. In fact, the company’s managing director, Ogunleye was later arrested at the request of Cash Link and detained at the Police Command Zone 2 at Obalende in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos.

After he was released, he was picked up by operatives from Force Headquarter (Alagbon), detained and interrogated for several months following another round of multiple fraud charges.

Investigation by source revealed that Ogunleye’s entire world was recently turned upside down as he was allegedly shot by the police at his home at Ikorodu (near General Hospital) in Lagos-East.

The genesis of his crisis was that he duped an Oil Marketer at Maryland Area (name withheld) of about N32 million worth of petroleum products. The oil marketer had believed his claim that he owned a petrol station in Ibadan and needed 10 trailers load of fuel, which he would deferred the payment.

Ogunleye’s request was granted. However, he sold it on the black-market, and fled the country to Ghana with the money before Interpol finally caught up with him some months later, and returned him to Nigeria. He was detained at Alagbon and released on bail after he promised to redeem his early pledge to the oil marketer.

Our source was told that after repeated default in debt payment schedule, it was alleged that operatives from Alagbon went to search for him in his Ikorodu House. On sighting the police, it was said that Ogunleye attempted to jump his fence and bolt away but he was shot in his leg.

It was further gathered that his leg was badly damaged and after several months in hospital, which led to its amputation. It was also said that Ogunleye has learnt few lessons from the mess as he has become a born-again Christian after he finds himself confined to his house with one leg.

OrijoReporter