Talubi Kazeem Adegoke, the chief executive officer of Modulex Turn-Key Project Ltd., has narrated how Umar Abdulkadir Sarki, a former member of the House of Representatives, collected N2.7 million from him for a failed constituency project bid in 2022.
Adegoke told FIJ that he met with Sarki, then representing the Katagum Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, in the course of sourcing a contract for his company.
His meeting with Sarki was made possible by Toyin Sulaiman and Femi Iyanda, both working and resident in Abuja.
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Iyanda told Sulaiman that he had a contractor seeking a contract. Aware that Sarki had a contract to execute, Sulaiman then referred Adegoke, the contractor, to Sarki for a discussion.
When Iyanda and Adegoke had a discussion with the former lawmaker, he told them that he indeed had a pending constituency project, which was the procurement and installation of solar street lights worth millions of naira. Adegoke told FIJ that, as a requirement to facilitate the project through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Sarki said he would collect 15% of the contract sum when it was awarded.
Adegoke agreed to the request and paid an upfront of N2.5 million to demonstrate his commitment to the deal.
After Sarki acknowledged the payment in a letter, he collected an additional N200,000, making it N2.7 million in total.
In an undated letter addressed to Adegoke, Sarki confirmed the payment of that upfront payment.
“I, Hon. Umar Abdulkadir Sarki, hereby acknowledges the receipt of N2.5 million from your company in respect of my above-stated project with reference number ERGP554001030 with the Ministry of Labour under NDE,” he wrote.
The undated letter written Sarki to Adegoke
According to Adegoke, the project was about N40 million naira.
Adegoke ended up not getting the promised contract.
For the most part of 2023, he was on a sick bed, and about which the former representative, Sulaiman and Iyanda were aware.
“When the ministry advertised the project, he collected my company’s profile and submitted it to the ministry. Usually, every contract has some requirements but he did not tell me those requirements,” Adegoke told FIJ.
“It was after he had submitted it and I saw the advert that I realised that some requirements were not in my profile. I asked him why he did not tell me those requirements and he said he did not know.
“That made me lose the contract. He then asked if I wanted him to refund the money or wait for another project. I chose the latter.”
By the time another project became available, Sarki gave it out to another company. By this time, Adegoke had fallen ill.
“When I was sick, the honourable gave Sulaiman N500,000 to send to me. He has not paid the balance of N2.2 million since then. He has disabled me from calling him on the phone. Even on WhatsApp, he does not respond to my messages anymore.”
‘IT WAS NOT A SCAM, BUT SARKI DIDN’T DO WELL’
When reached for comment, Sarki confirmed his involvement in the transaction, but said he was unavailable to speak on phone.
“This is not something that we can discuss on phone. I am not in Abuja at the moment. If you are in Abuja, I will be coming back next week so that we can discuss face-to-face,” Sarki said via WhatsApp.
“I think that is better because there is a mistake somewhere. Though I am in the picture of what you are talking about.”
Sarki has not responded since FIJ ruled out the possibility of a physical meeting.
However, Sulaiman confirmed the account of Adegoke to FIJ over the phone, saying she had done her best to trigger a full refund from Sarki.
“My role in the transaction was merely to refer the contractor to the ex-lawmaker. I wasn’t part of the conversation that led to the payment of the upfront to Hon. Sarki,” Sulaiman said.
“Adegoke told me that he paid the money and Femi Iyanda and the honourable confirmed it to me. But he couldn’t get the project the honourable promised him.
“I tried to find out from Sarki and he explained that he formally introduced the contractor to the ministry. I saw the letter of introduction. But in the process of processing the contract award, it was discovered that Adegoke’s company did not possess a certain mandatory document.”
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Sulaiman added that she thought that Sarki would facilitate another contract for Adegoke, but he did not.
That is where I think the lawmaker did not do well,” she said. “I visited Adegoke in the hospital when he was seriously ill. Sarki also visited him and saw how desperately he needed to get his money back to treat himself. Sarki made promises but failed to fulfill them.”
The post Businessman Paid N2.7m to Ex-Lawmaker Umar Sarki To Get a Contract That Never Came. Now Sick, He Wants His Money back appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.