Economist, Pat Utomi has lashed out at Ibikunle Amosun over the allegation that he was blacklisted by the Ogun State House of Assembly before he took over office as the governor of the state.
Utomi denied having any business transactions with the Ogun State government that could have warranted him to be blacklisted.
He said, “Why would I have been blacklisted? I have never had any business with Ogun that would have led them to whitelist not to talk of blacklisting me.
“As a matter of policy, I don’t do business at all with state governments. The only time it would become necessary is when it comes to land matters because the government is the sole authority over land matters in Nigeria.
“Why would the House of Assembly blacklist me? For what? I have never had any business transactions with Ogun State until that time. That is what frightens me why public officials can make such preposterous accusations against me I heard that statement for the first time in my life. If I was blacklisted, for what?”
While responding to Utomi over his statement that he had violated the contract agreement regarding the cancelled deal with Chinese firm Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, Amosun had described the professor as “entitled”.
Amosun was responding to Utomi’s allegation on a cancelled agriculture-related project in Ogun before he assumed office.
However, responding on Monday, Utomi said he never transacted any business with the Ogun State government.
Utomi then spoke on the seizure of the presidential jets, saying Nigeria should not have acquired such a jet fleet, as it was “Unnecessary”.
“To be quite frank, when I first heard of the seizure, I had no clue of what led to it.
“I just felt “we have done it again”. I was not happy and I thought of the idea of a presidential fleet, and why Nigeria maintains such a huge fleet, which I consider unnecessary.
“Many countries much better off than Nigeria do not have presidential fleets. The British who we learnt the art of statecraft from in the modern era, typically don’t have a prime ministerial jet. The prime minister leases jets to go for assignments.
“So that was my first reaction to why we would bring ourselves to this state of embarrassment.
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