Suspected thugs destroy proposed Dangote-affiliated Onitsha depot

Officials of Dangote Group were in Onitsha penultimate week, during which they inspected facilities in the massive site, which was abandoned for many years before Bontus acquired it and contacted Dangote for a possible collaboration between the two companies for the distribution of its products, including sugar, rice, noodles, cement, among other products, in the South East.

However, barely one week after the inspection, residents of the commercial town of Onitsha were astonished when people suspected to be thugs descended on the massive property located at Kilometer 6 along the Onitsha–Owerri expressway and destroyed some of the buildings. During the mayhem, the thugs also pulled down the wall behind the premises, thereby rendering the premises vulnerable to outside attacks.

Vanguard gathered that the property in question originally belonged to a transport company  and  served as the depot for the sale and maintenance of vehicles and as a filling station.

It was also gathered that the company  later sold the petrol station within the larger property to Bontus Oil and Gas in July 2016.

According to the information, the widow of the late Chairman of Amazu Motors, Mrs. Monica Amazu, her daughter and fifth son were involved in  executing  the legal documents of the property to the new purchaser.

An official of Bontus Oil said that immediately after the transaction, Bontus Oil and Gas took possession of the property, only to discover that there was a pending case in court concerning the property.

The company said: “At this stage, counsel to the director of Amazu Motors, Obiora Chandals & Co, wrote Bontus to make proper inquiries over the status of the property in question. As a result, Bontus Oil conducted a thorough search at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Abuja to ascertain the status of the property and it was discovered that the document of the property was in the name of Amazu Motors and not Amazoil.

“Consequently, the Iwenofu family of Obosi, the original sellers of the land on which the property lay, and Amazu Motors resolved the matter out of court, a development that threw the entire property open for sale, apart from the petrol station, which Bontus Oil and Gas had earlier purchased.

Chairman of Bontus Oil and Gas, Chief Uche Okafor said the property was later thrown open for purchase by the highest bidder and wondered why some people should pretend not to know that Bontus had purchased the property from Amazu Motors after settling with the Iwenofu family according to the terms of their agreement and was enjoying peaceful possession as the bona fide purchaser of the property until hired thugs destroyed part of it.