The Enugu State Government has defended its handling of the controversial New Enugu Smart City project, debunking malicious allegations of land grabbing against its officials by Sahara Reporters, an online platform.
This was contained in a rebuttal issued on Wednesday by the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Malachy Agbo.
The statement described SaharaReporters’ July 14 investigation as “malicious” and accused the newspaper of ignoring facts showing that Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd and the New Enugu Smart City project were government-backed vehicles established to protect state interests.
This response followed SaharaReporters’ publication of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records, official government correspondence, allocation letters, payment advisories and public notices suggesting that top officials of Governor Peter Mbah’s administration occupied key positions in Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd, a company involved in marketing and allocating plots within the New Enugu Smart City.
In its rebuttal, the Mbah-led administration said officials including the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia; former Commissioner for Housing, Dr. Martins Chukwunweike; former General Manager of the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC), Gerald Asogwa; and former Legal Adviser to the Governor, Osinachi Nnajieze, merely occupy nominal positions as trustees representing the state’s interests.
It said both the former and present government officials named were nominal shareholders and directors, who are on the boards of the said Enugu State-owned companies solely as trustees of the people’s interests in the special projects, in line with the law.
“The motive of the story is betrayed by the writer’s intentional avoidance of evidence and facts, which would have cast doubt on the headlines and negated the conclusions reached by the report.
“For example, while the story pretends that Enugu State government officials who were on the board of these SPVs were land grabbers and beneficiaries of the assets of the company, the report turns a blind eye to the fact that the board members did not benefit a kobo from the company.
“Not even a sitting allowance was paid to any of the board members during their time on the board of these SPVs.
“Also, while the story pretends that the government officials on the boards of these SPVs were beneficial owners planted by the Governor to siphon the resources of the company on his behalf, the authors wilfully turned a blind eye to the fact that those same state-owned companies were administered by officials of previous administrations, whose positions in the company terminated at the end of the administration that appointed them to the Board of the company.
“For example, the story falsely alleges that the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) owns 30 per cent of the government company.
“But common sense tells us that since the SSG and other officials mentioned in the malicious report occupy exactly the same positions in the state-owned entities as their predecessors, there would have been no assets or shares left to be transferred to them when they were appointed by the present administration to take over the running of the SPVs if the assets or shares eligible to them personally.
“So, for emphasis, the current Board members of these state-owned SPVs are nominal shareholders and directors, who are on the Board for the sole purpose of representing state interests in the SPV,” the statement read in part.
The government also picked other holes in the report that portray the publication as wilfully pernicious or ignorant of how SPVs are utilised by state and private entities in floating, delivering, vesting, and protecting government interests and assets in public and private ventures, businesses, or investments.
“As an example, while the story falsely and laughably alleges that the nominal shareholders and directors, who run the SPV on trust for the State, have taken real ownership of the assets of the company, Sahara Reporters could not reckon with the fact that many other Enugu State-owned companies also have other officials of the state, who are nominal shareholders and directors representing the state in the ventures.
“These include companies formed decades before the current administration in 2023.
“In each of those cases, the nominal shareholders and directors are succeeded by appointees of successive administrations in natural sequence until the emergence of the current administration.
“Additionally, other SPVs of the state also have several other state officials on the Boards of the companies.
“That is further evidence of the nominal and trusteeship nature of the roles of these state officials.
“As further proof of the nominal nature of the shareholding as trustees, the same state officials have similar roles in multiple state-owned companies.
“Therefore, if they were all beneficial owners of the shares held in these companies, there would be nothing left of the companies and the assets and interests they hold for the state,” the government explained.
The government also dismissed Sahara Reporters’ claim that the report was a product of tenacious investigative journalism, saying a professional report could not have stopped at a mere “low threshold of searching and regurgitating the information on the portal of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and seeking to tarnish the Government of Barr. Peter Mbah and the innocent, credible, reputable individuals and world-class professionals serving in his government.”
“If the writers and reporters made any real effort at investigation, they would have gone beyond the public information on the portal.
“That way, they would have found out quite easily that all assets and liabilities of the state-owned SPV known as Coal City Eastern Alliance Estate Ltd were transferred to the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, which has remained in total control of the projects of the company since 2024.
“Similarly, they would have also found out that the New Enugu City Management Agency, as the name implies, is an agency of the government.
“Therefore, the presence of government officials on its Board is merely an administrative position, not in the same sense as the Board of Directors of a going business concern.
“Their roles are merely governmental oversight in the administration of a government agency.
“We believe that this basic knowledge should have guided Sahara Reporters and that a diligent investigation could have saved the medium the hurried correction of the story several times to cover up massive inaccuracies,” the statement concluded.
