Exclusive: President Bola Tinubu Rewards Ally, Shamsudeen Saliu, Who Raised Funds For His Presidential Election With N3.7 Billion Contract For The Renovation And Furnishing Of His Main Residence In Aso Rock

Secret Reporters

In a move that appears to be a subtle plot to reward loyalty and further grease the palms of his longtime business partner and ally, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has awarded a multibillion naira contract to the Chief Executive Officer of Trucrete Solutions Limited, Shamsudeen Alubankudi Saliu.

Recall that Shamsudeen was a member of Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress’ fundraising campaign team in the 2023 presidential election, whose outcome is being contested by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.

According to documents posted on Twitter by a user, the contract, worth N3,743,396,514.99 (Three Billion, Seven Hundred And Forty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Fourteen Naira, Ninety-nine naira) was awarded to Trucrete Solutions Limited to urgently carry out interior renovation and furnishing of the Main Residence, Glass House, House 7, House 8, First Lady’s Office and some portion of Defense House. SecretReporters could not independently verify the document.

The move is coming barely four years after the mentioned areas were renovated at the inception of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure in 2019. However, a memo by the State House justified the government’s move by noting that there is an “established practice of renovating the President Complex at the end of the tenure of succeeding administrations.”

The memo said, “It became necessary to carry out repairs/renovation works and upgrade of some facilities in the Presidential Villa. This included retouching, painting on the perimeter fence walls and gatehouses, repair of defective mechanical/electrical fittings/fixtures, and replacement worn-out/dilapidated furniture, etc., most of which have been in by successive occupants”.

According to the document, these works are usually carried out by “our in-house service provider Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.,” the company that constructed the villa complex and was equally retained over the years to render requisite maintenance services “in line with extant procurement laws.”

The document said that in view of the foregoing and in keeping with the transition work plan rolled out by the defunct Presidential Transition Council for the Presidential Villa, JBN was instructed via the “Works As Directed” method of executing such works usually not captured in the State House annual budget, to urgently carry out renovation works at different locations that included Defense House, Guest House, ADC’s Residence, etc.

It, however, said that due to the huge level of “urgent indebtedness” to Julius Berger, the company could not cry out some of the interior works in the main residence and other important facilities. As a result, Trucrete Solutions Limited was invited to submit “an urgent quotation” for the interior renovation/furnishing of the aforementioned facilities.

The document revealed that at a joint negotiation meeting between the State House Technical Evaluation Committee and Trucrete Solutions Limited, both parties agreed to a proposed sum of #3,743,396,514.99, which has been approved by the President.

The State House document said the “urgency of the intervention works” undertaken by Julius Berger under the transition works and the interior works to be undertaken by Trucrete Solutions Ltd are proposed to be funded through special Intervention (Service Wide) as there is no budgetary provision for it in the State House 2023 Appropriation.

A memo by the Private Secretary to the President, Damilotun Aderemi, directed that the approved N3,743,396,514.99 (Three Billion, Seven Hundred And Forty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Fourteen Naira, Ninety-nine naira) to Trucrete Solutions Limited and the sum of N13,969,262,220.74 (Thirteen Billion, Nine Hundred and Sixty-nine Million, Two Hundred and Sixty- Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Twenty Naira, Seventy- Four Kobo) to Julius Berger be disbursed to both companies upon release by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.

Going by this directive, it denotes that the President Tinubu administration is currently exerting N17, 712,658,735.7 on renovating the State House in the face of the prevailing hardship exacerbated by the removal of the fuel subsidy.

About Trucrete Solutions Limited and the Owners’ Relationship with Tinubu

Investigations revealed that Trucrete Solutions Limited was incorporated in Lagos, Nigeria, with Registration Number 963095. It was registered on 04 July 2011, and its current status is unknown. The company’s registered office address is 1 Bomorinre Johnson, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

On the company’s board of directors are Shamsudeen Saliu, Akinola Akinyelure, who served as Senior Special Assistant to former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, between 2015 and 2019, and one Alex Adedipe Adeleke Adegoridco who serves as its secretary.

It could be recalled that Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress fundraising team for the 2023 election had Senator Kashim Shettima as its head and Shamsudeen Saliu as one of the members.

This online newspaper’s investigations revealed that Shamsudeen Saliu has been a long-time business partner and ally of President Tinubu. This is evident in bank transactions between Saliu’s Trucrete Solutions Limited and Tinubu’s Continental Broadcasting Service Ltd.

For instance, on June 12, 2018, Trucrete Solutions Limited’ account number 1771308875, domiciled in Polaris Bank, witnessed an inflow of N51,961,621.00 from Continental Broadcasting Serv Ltd.

Trucrete Solutions Limited Business Dealings with INEC Staff

Documents exclusively obtained by SecretReporters have shown that Saliu’s Trucrete Solutions Limited has been in serious business with a staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Gbadegesin Ademola.

Investigations revealed that Ademola, who is the Head of Operations and Logistics Department of Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, was a former director of Broken Shackles LTD before suddenly removing himself.

On January 13, 2014, Trucrete Solutions Limited’s account number 0122301977 witnessed an inflow of N50,000,000.00 from Ademola’s owned Broken Shackles LTD.

In another transaction on February 26, 2014, Trucrete Solutions Limited’s account number 0122307333 received a credit of N22,000,000.00 from Broken Shackles LTD.

In reversed transactions in 2018, Trucrete Solutions Limited’s account number 0066516249 experienced a debit of N10,000,000.00 in two tranches totaling N20,000,000.00 in favour of Broken Shackles Ltd.

Documents further revealed that in another separate transaction in 2018, Trucrete Solutions Limited, account number 0066516249 experienced a debit of N10,000,000.00 in favour of Broken Shackles Ltd.

Meanwhile, SecretReporters gathered that on May 26, 2014, Trucrete Solutions Limited’s Account 0122307333 experienced a debit of N10,000,000.00 in favour of Ganiyu Olanrewaju, who is currently the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Campaign Council in Lagos State. The purpose of the transaction is unknown.

Section 6(B) of the Code of Conduct Bureau forbids public servants who are employed on a full-time basis from engaging or participating in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade, “but nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming or participating in the management or running of any farm,” a law that apparently bars Gbadegesin Ademola from running Broken Shackles Ltd.