I declined to cater to Utomi’s sense of entitlement – Amosun

“Before I took office, the Ogun State House of Assembly had already declared Utomi a persona non grata and recorded their resolution in the state’s black book.”

When I became governor, I was intrigued by this and decided to reach out to Utomi to understand what the issue was. This was entirely my initiative, not because he had contacted me. I figured that someone with his level of recognition shouldn’t be in that position, and I wanted to know what had happened.

He explained that there was a controversy surrounding ongoing construction on an Ogun State property. To address this, I immediately assembled a team to verify the situation and determine the best course of action. The team reported back that the construction was inappropriate because it was being carried out in the car park of the Ogun State property on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Road in Lagos State. They suggested relocating the project to a different site.

However, Utomi refused the alternative location because he believed the original site offered more visibility. After an internal review, my team estimated that he could not have spent more than N35 million, or at most N50 million, on the construction at that time. I then decided to visit the site myself.

It became clear that the construction was hastily initiated after it was realized that another political party had won the governorship election and would soon take over. It was obvious that this was an attempt to corner the state government under my leadership, creating a scenario where we would face controversy over demolishing an ongoing project.

To ensure that his investment wouldn’t go to waste, I offered to refund N100 million, although he was claiming N200 million. He persistently pressured me to pay the full N200 million, but I did not give in.

In an effort to sway me, he used his Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) and attempted to win me over with an award. I found it suspicious since I had only been in office for about two years, so I declined the award. He insisted that I attend his CVL Solution conference series, which I did, and I received a plaque for participating. But I didn’t change my position on the refund.

Later, he complained to others with the intent of tarnishing my reputation. When I heard about it, I confronted him and told him off because his issue was purely one of entitlement mentality. He even boasted, asking me, “Do you know who I am?” But I saw through his true colors and ignored him. In my view, the law is the same for everyone, regardless of who they are.

I challenge anyone, including journalists, to visit the construction site and assess the supposed N200 million investment he claimed to have made. They should also consider what benefit the project would have brought to Ogun State.

No one can undermine me to make themselves look good. I served Ogun State with passion and integrity, and I stand by every decision I made, whether or not people like Pat Utomi agreed with me.

Utomi knows his case was baseless. He’s no different from Zhongfu International Investment FXE. He cannot claim any lawful damages to his investment. All he’s trying to do is a “me too” act, which is disgraceful.