Popular Yoruba actress, Laide Bakare’s husband, Alhaji Mutairu Babatunde Orilowo, has denied running away from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after being declared wanted for fraud and theft. Orilowo stated this via a press statement he issued on Thursday, April 10, 2014. According to him, the declaration by the EFCC, which was published in The Nation of Tuesday, March 25, 2014, was damaging. The 47-year-old businessman, who is the CEO of Primavera Construction & Engineering Ltd, added that contrary to EFCC’s statement, he is not on the run because he has not committed any offence to warrant running away from his fatherland. He said: “I was miffed by the EFCC declaration because I could not understand what the interest of EFCC was, as no court of law has indicted me for any offence and no warrant of arrest has ever been issued on me. The EFCC and MTN were only out to blackmail me because of the court case I instituted against EFCC, seeking an injunction to restrain the agency from arresting me or declaring me wanted, which will be determined on the 28th of April, 2014. Yet I was declared wanted on no basis many weeks before the hearing date. There was this MTN Cooperative. Their union came together with this idea of a project called Y’ello Estate to be built at Okun Ajah. That is my home town and where I do most of my businesses. So, based on my popularity and as a philanthropist who commands respect in the area, my company, Primavera Engineering & Construction Limited, was approached by MTN to help buy five hectares of land, which we did. Later, they came to us again and said oh, there are more demands, get us five hectares more. We did. The subscribers now became much interested in the project because they were going to make it the best of such estates in Lagos. We had an agreement from the beginning because they trusted us to deliver. The agreement was for me to; one, buy the lands; two, to ensure that the lands acquired were validly documented, and three, to be the sole developer of the estate. But some powerful people at MTN then came in after the agreement with the aim to hijack it. They saw the project as a laudable one and they were shocked that I was the only man handling the project. They came with an excuse that many people were bidding for it and it should not be a one-man thing. But I have spent close to one billion naira on this project. The agreement was for me to collect from MTN 20 percent of the money for mobilization and then go ahead to complete it with my personal money. And I have spent a lot on it. You know how big a project like an estate can be; talk of roads, bridges and other amenities? So, since MTN has decided to bring in another developer and my company has committed so much into executing the project, I asked that the money I have spent so far be refunded. But when they were not forthcoming, I took the MTN Cooperative to court, seeking to retrieve my money. We got judgment from Hon. Justice Olateru-Olagbegi. We then had negotiations with MTN based on the court judgment. Under the terms of settlement, MTN was to pay us substantial sums of money. But MTN still refused to pay us, so we commenced third-party involvement proceedings against MTN which resulted in the issuance of an order freezing the bank accounts of MTN. While we await action on our money, MTN went to EFCC to lodge criminal complaints against us, alleging theft of money, without disclosing the court proceedings on the issue. This was after the EFCC, on its own, had gone to court to institute criminal proceedings against us based on MTN’s complaints, which is still pending before the court”. Orilowo’s EFCC wanted advertorial covered a quarter page (on page 13 of the Tuesday, March 25, 2014 edition of The Nation newspaper), with the caption: “Wanted by EFCC”, and read in part: “The public is hereby notified that Alhaji Muttainu Babatunde Babaegbe Orilowo, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy, obtaining money under false pretences and stealing. Dark complexioned Orilowo is 47 years old, 5-7 feet tall and has brown eyes. He speaks English and Yoruba fluently. His last known address is No. 1, Otunba Adeniyi Street, Papa-Epe, Lagos”. Meanwhile, Laide Bakare, who dumped her America-based Nigerian husband and father of her daughter, Olumide Okunfulure for Orilowo, said she’s standing by her husband on the issue. According to her, the EFCC publication is meant to destroy his reputation. Adding that the story is also a calculated attempt to smear her own name.