Police: Ayeni legally sold his stakes in OMS to Capt. Hosa Okunbo

▪︎Ayeni’s Allegations against Okunbo baseless, malicious and false

▪︎EFCC, Attorney General copied

▪︎Okunbo family members fear there are attempts to influence police report

The police have cleared business mogul, Capt. Hosa Okunbo, of an allegation of theft and criminal diversion of company funds brought against him by his erstwhile business partner, Dr Tunde Ayeni.

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The police said the petition of the latter could not be substantiated.

Ayeni had through his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), filed a petition on December 7, 2020, with the police, accusing Okunbo of theft of the funds of Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMS), a company they jointly established along with others.

But the police in a letter to Okunbo’s lawyer, Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN), which was copied to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and titled: “Police Investigation Report,” signed by Head, IGP Monitoring Unit, Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Mr. A.A. Elleman, an assistant commissioner of police, dated 16 March 2021, said the businessman was innocent.

After reviewing the testaments of the disputants, the police said: “From the foregoing, it is pertinent to state that the allegations of stealing and criminal diversion of company funds as alleged by the complainant – Dr Tunde Ayeni- against the suspect, Capt. Hosa Wells-Okunbo, could not be established as there were documentary evidence that was provided by the suspect – Capt. Hosa Wells-Okunbo, which clearly shows that Capt. Hosa Okunbo has lawfully acquired Dr Tunde Ayeni’s interest in Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMS) for the valuable consideration of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) only.

“So also the allegation of criminal diversion of company funds is baseless, malicious and false as it hasn’t be proven by the complainant.”

The police had noted that while it found that the company was formed with the following shareholding, Wells-Okunbo (46 per cent), Ayeni (38 per cent), Garth Dooley (14 per cent), and Admiral Augustus Aikhomu (5 per cent later sold to Okunbo), they said they found that Ayeni had legally and voluntarily sold his stakes to Okunbo.

Meanwhile, the Okunbo family have reacted to the development, saying “they welcome the report.”

They said the report was professionally done by the police.

However, they expressed fears that attempts were being made to influence the police to change their report, while their father (Capt. Hosa) “lies critically ill in a London hospital.”