Baba Ijebu’s Company Faces Litigation over Unpaid Consultancy Fee

NATIONAL STADIUM BID CONCESSION 

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

A company owned and managed by Business Mogul, Kessington Adebukuola Adebutu, popularly known as ‘Baba Ijebu’,  is alleged to have defaulted in the full payment of negotiated fees and further services rendered by a Technical Consortium which directly led to the successful concession bid for the National Stadium in Lagos.

THISDAY checks reveal during the week that despite ensuring the successful bid for the National Stadium concession and further delivering on other services urgently required by the Baba Ijebu’s Company (Messrs GreenArps Project Limited), it has, since November 2023,  bluntly refused to pay the Technical Consortium their due, causing them to rack up a number of charges and to suffer the vagaries of the significant inflationary rates in the past 18 Months.

It was also learnt that although the first two tranches of the Consortium’s Fees were paid in accordance with the terms of their Agreement, Messrs GreenArps Project Limited, deliberately refused to satisfy their Agreement by making the final payment of fees immediately they became aware that they were successful.

This is despite the fact that the now rested Federal Ministry of Sports Development had not only notified Baba Ijebu’s Company of its successful Concession Bid but invited it for further negotiations for the execution of the Bid and which the Company attended and has been involved in negotiation meetings ever since. In fact, it was during these negotiations that the Company reached out to the Consortium for further technical services which it has also failed to acknowledge.

A source that was involved in the entire project told THISDAY that he was shocked by the refusal of the company to make full payment for services rendered by the technical consortium.

“Considering that the concession won is of national  concern, one cannot help but wonder at the disposition of Messrs GreenArps Project Limited’s failure to meet up with its obligations,” observed the engineer who did not want his name in print.

It was however based on the refusal of the company to pay up the balance of the agreed fee that has now made the technical consortium to resort to approaching a law firm to institute legal action against the Baba Ijebu company managed by one of his sons.

All efforts by THISDAY to speak with the Chief Executive Officer of Messrs GreenArps Project Limited proved abortive as all calls made to his mobile numbers were not picked up and SMS messages sent were not replied as at the time of going to press.

The National Stadium in Lagos was built in 1972 by the General Yakubu Gowon Administration ahead of the 1973  2nd All African Games hosted by Nigeria. It had a sitting capacity of 55,000 at inception but was scaled down to 45,000 when Nigeria hosted the U19 World Youth Championships now renamed U20 FIFA World Cup. The highest  attendance ever recorded at the main-bowl was 85,000 when Green Eagles played the final of the 1980 AFCON with Algeria. It has hosted several global and continental events amongst other. 

However over the last two decades, the Sports City,  as the facility was called, has lost its allure and degenerated into a sorry state of decay.

It is expected that the concession of the complex will restore its past glory and make national teams return to use the complex again.