Ronchess/Kaduna: Necessity of full disclosure 

By Akpata Alao 

Since the report by a prominent online newspaper about 10 days ago, detailing the rather sad and bizarre business deal between  Ronchess Global Resources Plc and Kaduna State Government during the tenure of Mallam Nasir El Rufai, the company has done everything humanly possible not only to trivialize the enormity of the case of alleged sleaze involved but also to cladenstinely extricate VIPs from being  linked to it.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Ronchess Global Resources Plc, a construction company in which Mr Adeolu Adeboye, son of Redeemed Christian Church of God’s General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, is the  Chairman, allegedly received over N8 billion from Kaduna State Government for a contract, but abandoned the project after 30% completion.

Ronchess Global Resources Plc secured the contract during the tenure of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration. But the company has been evading accountability to the government of Kaduna State over the diverted funds and unfinished project.

Instead of Ronchess Global Resources Plc and Mr Adeboye to come clean following a probe into the alleged fraud, he (Adeboye) filed a suit (FHC/L/CS/1206/24) at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

In the suit, Adeolu Adeboye is asking the court to grant an injunction restraining both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Kaduna State Government, and the State House of Assembly from arresting or detaining him over the abandoned N17.26 billion project.

According to available information, the EFCC, Inspector General of Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Kaduna State Government and Kaduna State House of Assembly are the 1st to 6th Respondents respectively.

In a significant development, the CEO  of  Ronchess Global Resources Plc, Jackson Ukuevo, has come out to fault and demarket the August 28, 2024 publication by an online platform titled “EXCLUSIVE: Pastor Adeboye’s Son, Adeolu Abandons  Kaduna Project After Taking Over N8Billion From El-Rufai Gov’t, Runs To Court To Stop Probe”. 

Mr Ukuevo, in a press statement, described the publication as malicious, misleading, irresponsible and libellous and thus demand its retraction. In the statement, the CEO states, “The attention of the Management of Ronchess Global Resources Plc. (hereinafter referred to as “Ronchess” or “the Company”) has been drawn to an online publication published by Sahara Reporters on the 28th of August, 2024.

“While the company finds it needless and inessential to join issues with the authors of the publication, it would however be necessary to put the facts straight in a bid not to mislead the public. Ukuevo said the misinformation about Ronchess Global Resources Plc. and Pastor Adeolu Adeboye is troubling and unwarranted. He said  it is important to clarify that Pastor Adeolu is not the owner or a shareholder in the company.

But findings have shown that he is the Chairman of the company’s board made up of 10 people.

Following the details of the case, what is needed is full disclosure by Ronchess Global Resources Plc about the controversial contract. Since it is mindful of extricating the name of its chairman from the issue on the ground, Ronchess Global Resources Plc (RONCH.ng) a company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange under the Building & associated sector, owes it as an obligation that it can neither avoid or wish away, to do a full disclosure for the good of the Nigeria public in general and the good people of Kaduna State in particular. They are the ones directly affected by this case because their common patrimony is involved.

The questions Ukuevo has to answer include whether Mr Adeboye is on its board. Whether as a chairman of the board it is customary to go into such a huge contractual obligation without his knowledge and if indeed, Mr Adeboye has never heard anything about the controversial contract. As it is commonly said among Africans, is it possible to shave a man’s head in his absence? If he was not a shareholder, what entitles him to being the Chairman of the Board of directors?

The younger Adeboye, has chosen to go to Court to scuttle moves to get the company in which he is chairman and possibly himself to account for the billions of Kaduna State money which the company got through a contract awarded to it by El Rufai but which the company has failed to execute or finished. 

The inescapable truth is that Kaduna State resources were badly managed in a rather unconscionable manner in the past and the present administration reserves the right to ensure it retrieves all frittered away resources of the state back for the good of the people of Kaduna State. 

When in April, the Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, raised the alarm over the state’s financial status, a few narrow minded people viciously attacked him, chief among whom was son of his predecessor in office, Mr Bashir El Rufai. However, when the Kaduna State House of Assembly stepped into the matter and demanded a thorough probe of the financial activities of the previous administration under Mallam El Rufai, it dawned on so many people that there could, indeed, be more to Governor Sani’s alarm and claim. 

Following this, the Kaduna State House of Assembly stepped in and vowed to probe the financial expenditure of the El Rufai administration. What has come into light so far has been an eye popping charade of how a leader, while appearing to be a no-nonsense individual was at the same time an ineffectual janus-faced effigy, who failed to lift a finger in defense of the peoples common patrimony. 

The recent revelation about Mr Adeolu Adeboye has now fully revealed a hitherto unknown and unseen side of Mallam Nasir El Rufai as a hypocrite who willingly weaponise faith for his own gain.

The former governor apparently comes across in this regard as a hypocrite who while acting as a pious Muslim advocate, as search on his activities regarding Muslim faith is concerned, was at the same time enjoying an absolutely amazing charming relationship with ‘infidels’. He talks about Islam and Muslims in a manner that would make millions lay down their lives instantly, yet engages in patronizing people of the same faith he publicly snide at and treat with indifference.

But more disgusting and disturbing is the fact that El Rufai allowed the same company and person to get away with such a huge sum without delivering on the contract, thus frittering away the people’s money and commonwealth. This is a conscious and intentional violation of the major principles and tenets of both the Christian and Muslim faiths which demand uprightness, accountability and faithfulness in the discharge and handling of public trust. 

In today’s Nigeria, N8 billion is a handsome amount. Ronchess Global Resources Plc preoccupation, therefore, should be how to deliver on full disclosure and come out clean than engaging in unnecessary razzmatazz. The moral lessons here are that irrespective of how people present themselves publicly, human beings are not always what they are.

Many have so perfected the art of living a duplicitous life. They claim one thing and actually live another.  They are the type that Jesus Christ referred to as “white washed sepulchres. Outwardly they look so attractive and always seem to glitter. But right inside of them are full of stinking dead men bones. The sight of which will cause stomach upset. It’s the tragedy of modern hypocritical leaders in Nigeria, who weaponise anything, including religion, as long as it will serve their parochial and narrow interest.

• Alao, a Sociologist and public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja