A contractor, Mr Olufemi Oniyide of Moxharley Nigeria Limited has dragged the Oyo state government before the State High Court, Ibadan over alleged theft of the Park Management System.
The contractor, in Suit No: I/421/2020, filed at the State High Court, Ibadan, also joined the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, the Chief of Staff, Chief Luqman Oyebisi Ilaka, Commissioner for Public Works, Infrastructure and Transportation, Professor Raphael Afonja and Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue as defendants.
The suit was instituted on behalf of Moxharley Nigeria Limited by his lawyers Olamiji Martins LP and Aborisade Adedayo LP of MarVic Alpha LP.
In the Writ of Summons, filed 14th May, 2020 and made available to insideoyo.com, the Claimants’ Lead Counsel Olamiji Martins LP said that the Oyo State Park Management System (PMS) which was launched on 17th February, 2020 by the state Commissioner for Public Works, Infrastructure and Transportation, Professor Raphael Afonja on behalf of the state government was the original project of the contractor (Mr Olufemi Oniyide) as inherent in a documented proposal he had earlier submitted to the government through the office of the Chief of Staff, Chief Luqman Oyebisi Ilaka on 2nd October, 2019.
Olamiji Martins LP further alleged that the project diversion being a fact duly acknowledged by the state Commissioner for Public Works, Infrastructure and Transportation, Professor Afonja to the contractor via WhatsApp chat was wrongful and amounts to clear breach of trust.
The Claimants are seeking an order directing the Defendants, including the state government to pay damages totalling N156,000,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Six Million Naira only) for launching the Oyo State Park Management System (PMS), an idea originally conceived and made available to the government by the contractor, Mr. Oniyide.
Recall that the Claimants’ Counsel, Olamiji Martins LP had on 25th February, 2020 written an official petition to Governor Seyi Makinde on the matter, but the governor failed to reply or make efforts to contact Mr. Oniyide.
Oniyide’s lawyer Olamiji Martins insists that his client must get justice and wont consider the cost of taking the case up in court or how many years it will linger. He further said that this matter will serve as deterrent not only to governments which are in the habit of hijacking proposals but also to any other persons. He also said his client had worked with the former Governor of Ogun State Otunba Gbenga Daniel on similar projects in the past and was handsomely paid for his ideas.
