By Jacob Ajom

Engineer Babatunde Babalola, founder and chairman of First Deepwater Group of Companies is fighting back to reclaim what he termed as one of his companies, Star Orient which he entrusted to people he once called his friends.

According to Engineer Babalola, Star Orient, an aviation servicing and fueling company which he incorporated in 2014, has become the bone of contention between him and his erstwhile friends who are now claiming ownership of the company. Apart from Star Orient, Babalola presides over First Deep Water, Star Petroleum, Discovery Airlines, Oxcon Farms.

Babalola said, after incorporating the company, he invited Lanre Bamgbose and Osamo Dare and handed over the day-to-day running of the establishment to them because he was too busy presiding over too many organisations under the conglomerate. He felt he needed to shed the workload on him.

Babalola told the media, “I realised I can’t be present in all the companies at the same time,” adding, “there was no way I could attend management meetings and all the board meetings, So I decided to appoint people to represent me.

“I appointed two of my friends, Lanre Bamgbose and Osamo Dare to run the company for me in trust.”

To actually free himself of all executive encumbrances, Babalola said he backed up the appointment by allocating shares of the company to the duo, with each holding 50 per cent of the shares, in trust. “I am not sure I did anything against the law,” he said, defending his action.

However, there is a new narrative surrounding the affairs of Star Orient. The company is in heavy debts, so much that one of the creditors has appointed a Receiver Manager and one of the two friends he entrusted the company to, Dare Osamo has resigned. New actors have emerged.

Before Dare Osamo’s resignation, a third party, Isaac Adewole of Shibahwells Energy Services Limited joined through a Joint Venture Agreement with Star Orient. According to Engineer Babalola, he was aware of the Joint Venture Agreement between Mr Adewole and Star Orient. He explained that “They have run the company aground with loans worth about N500 million, after using my asset as collateral. Above all, they are claiming ownership of the company.”

Babalola is saying he wants his company back. He has already petitioned the police to probe the huge loans and what they were used for.

“What did they use the money collected as loans for? Who expended the money and for what? These are questions the Police would seek answers to,” he said.

But the management of the company has filed numerous petitions with the Police, EFCC and up to the Attorney-General of the Federation, claiming that Babalola was impeding police investigation regarding the fraud in the company. They are also claiming that he has no business petitioning the Police on the affairs of Star Orient.

In a widely circulated counter petition to the Zone 2 Police Command and published in some national dailies, the management of the company said, “We were served a fresh petition by one Babatunde Babalola claiming ownership of Star Orient and alleging that our directors obtained a loan of N500,000,000 from FCMB

“We could not understand why Mr Babalola would be concerned with a loan from FCMB where he is neither a director nor that of Star Orient.”

But Babalola is saying he petitioned the Police to investigate the fraud in Star Orient because he fears his company was collapsing and he did not want it to die. Another intriguing angle to the unfolding scenario is the position of Mr Isaac Adewole who has become a director of Star Orient. Babalola said “I have the Joint Venture Agreement between Isaac and Star Orient. He was owing a bank over N400 million and the bank told him that he needed a reputable platform to trade himself out of his precarious financial position..

He then came to Star Orient and said he wanted a Joint Venture(JV), In the Joint Venture Agreement that he signed with Star Orient, the purpose was for him to bring in products, sell and share the profits then the parties go their separate ways.”

Against the provisions of the JVA, Isaac is now a director of Star Orient, to the surprise of Babalola, who is the Chairman of the group. Dare Osamo has resigned, alleging a threat to his life.

Babalola also disclosed that one of the friends, Dare Osamo has since returned the shares he gave to him in trust but Lanre Bangbose was still holding tight to his. “I will allow justice to take its course because when I incorporated the company he wasn’t there and the lawyer that incorporated the company for me at the Corporate Affairs Commission is still alive. I won’t bother myself about him,” he said.

“It would surprise you to note that these same people claiming that Star Orient is not mine are in court now, seeking that the company be wound up. Why would they be pushing for winding up the company instead of finding ways to recover from the numerous troubles it has found itself in? I think there is a red flag there.”

Vanguard News Nigeria