Secret Reporters No place to hide
Elombah.com
The Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun placed an order for 15 bullet proof vehicles and and have taken delivery of them at the highly inflated cost of N165 million each. An Elombah.com investigation reveals that the Ogun state government ordered for the cars in 2012 and initially delivered 11 and then followed it up with another 2.
However, the price for the vehicles is not more than N30 million as the market price of speck Armoured Personal carriers is ranges from N25 – N48million depending on the engine (see below).
The company that supplied the vehicles to the Governor is Alpine Armoring Inc. Herndon, Virginia, USA.
Information available to elombah.com says the state government initially claimed they bought each for around N100m but our source stated that the purchase vouchers showed each vehicle actually cost the state government N165m whereas the actual cost of similar vehicles from their US supplier is not more than $300,000 each or 48million Naira (@160naira per dollar). Others are N25million ($129K)
Confronted with the result of our investigations, a journalist from Ogun State, Ifeanyichukwu said “As you would have seen from the supplier, they made a kill on the transaction which remains a mystery in terms of actual cost to our state treasury.”
In the course of investigation for this report, the same company that Ogun State Government used, Alpine Armoring Inc. Herndon, Virginia, USA gave the lower cost for the same Pit-Bull VX, which is the APCs they ordered.
Some of our sources in Ogun State even claim that some of the supplied armoured personal carriers were even second hand vehicles priced as new.
In response to our investigator’s email to Alpine Armoring Inc. Herndon, Virginia, USA for a quote for similar vehicle as the one ordered by the governor they said:
“As you requested, please see attached specs belonging to some armored SWAT trucks we could offer you. Regarding Alpine’s armored Pit-Bull VX ®, it is a Left hand Drive vehicle as they all are. Depending on the quantity of your order, your special dealer price would range from$268K to $295K each. We could ship you seven of these vehicles right away. Alternatively, we also happen to have three of the older model (still new) of Pit-Bull FX ® model, that we could sell you for only $167K each. We have three (3) of these trucks ready for immediate shipping.
“Lastly, we have this one new SWAT armored Van, based on Mercedes-Benz engine (Pointer ®) that is also ready for shipping for a special price of only $129K. Please see attached specs. I very much recommend this vehicle.
“I will give you a more detailed quote if you are ready to proceed with your order. Also, please refer to the Export License application form with instruction to complete. We would need this form signed and emailed back to us in order to apply and obtain the License from the US government. This process may take one to three weeks at no cost or obligation to you”, the email concluded.
One of his aides in response said to our inquiries said; “NO BIG DEAL, all governors and Ministers, ex-govs and ex-ministers have bullet proof vehicles, “who wan die””
The extravagant governor who has also been accused of criminally forging the signature of the clerk and some other members of the State House of Assembly to pass the state pension bill into law.
Impeccable and named sources in Ogun State has revealed to Elombah.com that the criminal act carried out by Ogun State governor, is currently generating friction between the governor and the honourable members of the house.
The Governor has also been accused of hiding Ogun state’s total debt figures under his administration as well as constructing some of the most expensive roads per kilometer in the country and spending a whopping 260 million Naira on a needless Pedestrian bridge on his street.
