Sujimoto slams opportunist lawyers, justice system, corporate sabotage over false claims, administration (SPONSORED)

What has emerged in recent days is a concerted effort by a group of lawyers, deceiving themselves and circulating false and misleading claims against Sujimoto Construction Limited.  At the centre of this effort is a calculated attempt to mislead the judiciary, using an unfounded and disputed claim of ₦24 million debt to procure an ex-parte order against a multi-billion-naira enterprise, premised on the allegation that Sujimoto owes an individual the amount in question, in a desperate bid to force the Company into administration, and expose it to dismantling and public ridicule.

            Leave builders to build

It is the height of absurdity when some opportunists who have never mixed cement, never built a kitchen, and never spent a single sleepless night calculating the structural integrity of a vision believe they can dismantle what they could never design. They circle like vultures, hoping to feast on a carcass that does not exist. Some have even gone so far as to obtain misleading ex-parte orders, hoping to weaponize the courts against a company they assume is weak.

Let it be clear that this allegation is categorically false. Sujimoto owes no such amount. A group of lawyers mischievously obtained ex-parte orders, attempting to use it as a pressure tactic against Sujimoto. In response, Sujimoto has acted decisively by blocking this attempt, in full respect for due process and without conceding any liability.

Without prejudice and strictly to prevent abuse of process, Sujimoto has lodged a bank draft for the disputed ₦24 million with the court under protest, pending judicial determination. The issue is now before the courts, where the facts will be determined. By virtue of the motions and processes duly filed by Sujimoto legal team, the purported powers of the administrator stand suspended pending the court’s decision.

The method by which these malicious actors obtained the ex-parte orders is as questionable as the claim itself. In a clear attempt to bypass justice, these individuals misled the court, falsely alleging that the Sujimoto was in a state of financial distress and unable to meet its obligations. They secured this malicious ex-parte orders on 14 November 2025 through deception, only to emerge in January 2026 with a “legal” ambush. We have since presented the court with irrefutable evidence: the billions in payments successfully made by Sujimoto in settlement of the Company’s financial obligations in the past 12 months, and the operational vitality of Sujimoto. No court with the full facts would grant such disruptive orders against a thriving Company.

A formal petition is already in motion against every lawyer and individual involved in this orchestrated scam, as the Company is resolved to ensure that the architects of this falsehood face the wrath of the law to its extreme extent.

           The architecture of integrity

In the past twelve months alone, Sujimoto has paid over ₦10 billion to its creditors: banks, private investors, and government agencies. Most recently, the company voluntarily repaid ₦1.28 billion to the Enugu State Government over a disputed contract that is pending in Court, reflecting a mirrored reality of responsibility, discipline, and competence in a country where such virtues are often overlooked, ridiculed, or exploited. An enterprise of this scale is not a roadside kiosk to be bullied. It is a regulated, structured organisation that understands one principle clearly: obligations are addressed through process, order, and discipline not through intimidation.

The Scheme

Administration is a tool for companies to rescue failing companies whose assets cannot cover their liabilities. Sujimoto situation is the polar opposite. With recent asset valuation, Sujimoto is over ₦90 billion strong in assets; and financial obligations representing less than 10% of the Company’s total assets, Sujimoto remains in a position of overwhelming strength – a reality solidified by the Company’s 2024 – 2025 Triple BBB+ Investment Grade rating from DataPro, confirming a balance sheet with more than enough assets to comfortably cover any possible liability (if any).

The new scheme by these group of lawyers is to manipulate the law and use same to extort legitimate businesses by using administration proceedings.  Their playbook is to obtain ex-parte orders from the court appointing their cronies as administrator(s) to take over a company. Secondly, they try to seize control of the company by changing the signatory to the company’s bank accounts to that of the administrator. Thirdly, the administrator will now engage lawyers for the company who will then concede to all frivolous and bogus claims. These are actions not supported by law.  The laws in Nigeria did not empower any court with the jurisdiction to grant ex-parte Orders appointing an administrator over a company without hearing the company or lend support to thee manipulated action.

Sujimoto has met them at their game and they are now frustrated using the media and making false publications. These penny-pinching, microwave armchair lawyers and opportunistic hustlers are hoping Sujimoto will bow, and be blackmailed, or pay them off. They imagine coaxing one or two creditors into echoing false claims, then taking a cut from any so-called “recovered” funds. It will never happen. Sujimoto deals directly with every creditor – fully transparent, fully disciplined and ensuring every obligation is honored on schedule. Any attempt to exploit others or weaponize misinformation will fail.

Accusers, detractors, and merchants of false publications have once again surfaced at the gates of a company that has built, endured, and consistently delivered against all odds. They arrive not to contribute or to compete, but to test its endurance.

        Delivering the future

 It is a recurring pattern in Nigeria for pessimists to manufacture a false narrative, amplify it online, and hope the public confuses noise for evidence. But in every economy worth its salt, real outcomes cannot be dismissed. Tangible accomplishments cannot be rewritten by rumour. The wages of employees, the integrity of contractors, and the trust of investors are not just ideas. They are real. They are measurable. And they are immutable.

For twelve unbroken years, Sujimoto has built on the principle of humanity first. Wages totaling over ₦7 billion have reached thousands of Nigerian households, sustaining fathers and mothers, uncles and sisters who rise before dawn, labor through exhaustion, and return home carrying both dignity and hope.

Sujimoto is not merely a company. It is a creed: a fellowship of over 745 skilled professionals and visionaries bound by unyielding standards, discipline, and faith in Africa’s potential. Every false claim against the company will be met with firm legal action, decisive response, and unwavering public clarity. Sujimoto will be compelled to petition the appropriate authorities against any individual or entity that advances or propagates claims of this nature.

To those who mistake our silence for weakness or our discipline for vulnerability.

Sujimoto has an announcement.

Sujimoto have spent twelve years laying a foundation that no mischievous scheme can dismantle, and no opportunist can claim. Sujimoto has survived economic storms that would have swallowed lesser visions and in the face of last year’s challenges, the Company chose integrity over evasion, settling over ₦10 billion in financial obligations to ensure its partners were made whole.

Let it be known: We did not build this empire to be held hostage by manufactured instruments or weaponised misinformation. To anyone attempting to use the courts to seize what they could never create, prepare for the full weight of the law, the complete strength of our institutions, and the unyielding resolve of a company that has already proven it cannot be broken. We will fight with everything we have to protect our people, our partners, and the future of African excellence.

Dr. Sijibomi Ogundele is the Group Managing Director of Sujimoto Holdings, the Czar of Luxury RealEstate Development, and the mastermind developer behind the renowned Giuliano. Our other audacious projects, such as the most sophisticated building in Banana Island, LucreziaBySujimoto, the grandiose Sujimoto Twin Tower, the tallest twin towers in Africa; the regal Queen Amina by Sujimoto, a monument to royal affluence; the magnificent high-rise LeonardoBySujimoto; the Sujimoto Farm; an advanced farm estate system that incorporates housing, farm hospitals, hotels, and markets within an ecosystem, creating opportunities for agro-tourism and affordable housing, among other projects that have etched an indelible imprint on Nigeria’s skylines, a testament to Sujimoto’s unrivalled mastery of modern-day engineering.

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