Governor Udom Emmanuel has completed a massive mansion for himself in his hometown of Awa community in ONNA Local Government Area, which he started building four months after becoming the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
In an exclusive report on September 30, 2015, by SaharaReporters, it was revealed that contract for the building project was awarded by Governor Emmanuel to VKS Construction Limited; a construction firm owned by Mr. Onur Kumral, a Turkish national who several sources confirmed aided former Governor Godswill Akpabio in siphoning public funds.
Mr. Kumral was formerly the Project Manager of another construction company, Ronesans Construction Nigeria Limited, a Turkish firm. As a follow up to that report, it was also revealed last year that the Turkish company is a subsidiary of Ronesans Holding in Turkey but had to be registered as Ronesans Construction Nigeria Limited when it first arrived Nigeria in 2014 on the invitation of former Governor Godswill Akpabio. The first contract awarded to the company in Nigeria was the construction of the Four Point Sheraton Hotel in Ikot Ekpene.
Kumral later left Renossans Construction Nigeria Limited and formed VKS Construction Limited.
Kumral was assisted in the Governor’s building project by one Oliver Ebong. Ebong is the owner of another company called Olkem Nigeria Limited which is basically into project consultancy. However, credible sources further hinted that Mr. Ebong and Olkem Nigeria Limited were fronts for former Governor Godswill Akpabio, his elder brother Emem Akpabio and one Mr. Don Etim who was the then Commissioner for Works throughout the eight years tenure of Akpabio as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
“Oliver Ebong and his company Olkem Nigeria Limited are fronts that were used by Godswill Akpabio, his brother Emem Akpabio and Mr. Don Etim to loot billions of naira of Akwa Ibom funds. What happened was that the former governor gave almost all the consultancy job for roads and other infrastructural projects and contracts of his government to Olkem Nigeria Limited which ran into several billions of naira.
“The costs of the consultancy contracts were usually inflated and returns were made to the former Governor, his brother and Don Etim. This fact was common knowledge within government circles,” a source close to the former Governor disclosed.
Despite the photos of the building at the time exclusively published by SaharaReporters, which clearly showed that the house was completely new and under construction, the Governor publicly denied and refused to admit so.
The Governor through the State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, had while addressing newsmen in Uyo on Friday, October 2, 2015, described the report as “false, unfounded, misleading and the height of mischief.” He claimed that Mr. Udom was merely renovating the property that had been built 60 years ago by the father.
The opulent house, which was built to have state-of-the-art facilities, has a shocking inbuilt Olympic size swimming pool.
Speaking on the matter, a lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, described the Governor as someone on a mission to accumulate wealth at the expense of the public.
“Governor Udom Emmanuel is a bloody liar. How can a governor build such a mansion within few months in office? Why didn’t he do so before now if he had so much money before becoming the governor? It is criminal and senseless,” according to the lawyer when asked about the completion of this project. (Culled from SaharaReporters).
GOV UDOM COMPLETES MULTI-MILLION NAIRA MANSION
