He found it inconvenient to be poor’.These words of English poet,William Cowper aptly describe the agony Sir Emeka Offor,one of Nigeria’s most controversial government contractors,is presently going through.According to SaharaReporters,the erstwhile billionaire is now broke. Several sources, including employees of his various companies who have not been paid for months, said that the flamboyant businessman and politician is so cash-strapped that he frequently travels between Abuja and Lagos by road.Emeka Offor,who used to hire private jets for his trips within and outside Nigeria, has reportedly, since last year been unable to afford the jets, which cost $6,000 per hour. “In the last two months, Chief Offor has travelled three times by road from Abuja to Lagos,” one source disclosed. He added that the owners of a leased private jet that Mr. Offor used to travel in confiscated the aircraft because the businessman could not pay accumulated lease fees. According to our sources, Sir Offor still has enough personal funds to afford to make local first class flights in Nigeria, but has chosen the road option for fear that people may wonder what has become of his private jet if they see him on commercial planes. “We do not know how things have become so hard for Sir E,” said a relative of the businessman who hails from Oraifite community in Anambra State. The relative added that Sir Offor’s father died last February, but has yet to be buried because of the businessman’s financial crisis. “Sir E’s father’s remains have been in the mortuary in Ekwusigo Local Government Area for the past seven months because Sir E wants to give him a high profile burial which he cannot afford right now. He gets very hostile whenever we the relatives ask him when the old man’s burial will take place.” SaharaReporters learned that Sir Offor’s companies in Abuja have for one year been under lock and key because of the severe business challenges. Several disenchanted employees told our correspondent disclosed that Mr. Offor stopped paying their salaries shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May 2015. Emeka Offor, who for 16 years relished his media image as a top financier of the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), raked in huge government contracts in the power, petroleum and communications sectors. A source at the Presidency told SaharaReporters that the businessman had made several attempts to have an audience with President Buhari, without success. The source said President Buhari was aware of the controversies surrounding how Offor made his fortune, adding that the president was not eager to associate with “Aso Rock contractors,” a reference to businessmen who used their ties to those in power to accumulate obscene wealth. Our source said Offor was one of the numerous contracts during the 16-year reign of the PDP who got paid for little or no work done in an era when the economy was vandalized. Our Presidency disclosed that Emeka Offor had approached several individuals to help arrange a meeting with President Buhari. Among those Offor asked for help are President Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari; the director general of the Department of State Security, Lawan Musa Daura, who hails from the same town as Buhari; the Emir of Daura, Faruk Umar Faruk; and the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmuminu Kabir Usman. One of Emeka Offor’s associates claimed that the businessman gave several brand new cars to the emirs as public relations gifts to facilitate the meeting. An Igbo auto dealer, who supplied the cars, is accusing Emeka Offor of tricking him into releasing 12 vehicles without upfront payment. In the 1990s, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had blacklisted Offor’s company, ANCHOFF Strongholds Ltd, in line with the recommendation by a panel led by the late Aret Adams, regarded as the most respected NNPC chief executive ever. The company was blacklisted following its shoddy performance on a controversial turnaround maintenance (TAM) contract awarded to it for the 115,000 barrels per day Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company in Delta State. Yet, in 2014, the Goodluck Jonathan administration secretly awarded Sir Offor’s Chrome Energy the turn around maintenance (TAM) contract for both the Old 60,000 bpd Port Harcourt Refinery and the 150,000 bpd New Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State for an undisclosed amount. The New Port Harcourt Refinery TAM contract had in 1997, during the Sani Abacha dictatorship, been given to Offor and his Romanian partners with large sums of money paid. The refinery has, however, been the worse for it, as it has since gone comatose. Meanwhile,Emeka Offor’s financial woes seem to have given his Oraifite people the courage to protest against him. The businessman likes to be addressed as “Sir,” a title he started using after becoming a knight of the Anglican Church. Anglican Church reportedly deleted his name from the roll of knights of the faith, citing his polygamous status,with his knighthood said to be withdrawn after some prominent Anglicans from Oraifite questioned how a church that upholds monogamous marriage would honor a man with several wives. SaharaReporters learned that, despite being rebuffed so far by President Buhari, Mr. Offor has not given up on the idea of getting close to the president. One step Offor quietly took was to join the ruling APC. He has also asked his business partners, including ex-Senate President Ken Nnamani, to join the APC. Mr. Nnamani serves as chairman of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, a deal Mr. Offor acquired in a most controversial manner on November 1, 2013, during the Jonathan administration. A member of Mr. Offor’s extended family said he and other relatives have different concerns. “All we want is for Sir E. to give a decent burial to his father, who was a father to so many. Sir E. is the head of our family because he is the eldest in the family, but he must not continue to give the world a false impression of his wealth. Everyone knows the country is in an economic mess right now. The earlier our father is buried, the better for all of us. Unless our father is buried, none of us can face our business squarely”.
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