A group under the aegis of Concerned Plateau Indigene has accused the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong and the former Managing Director of Plateau Investment and Development Company ( PIPC)  Ezekiel Gomos of cover up in the sales of Brewery Agro and Research Company Ltd (BARC Farm). BARC  Farm, was a subsidiary of Jos International Brewery which in the early 1990s was under the ownership of the Plateau State government who created this through Plateau Investment and Development Company Ltd (PIPC), also owned by the government of Plateau State.

The company was alleged sold to a company called ILHAMA Enterprises Nigeria Ltd in 1993, a company owned by the former Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Nyako. It was reliably gathered that due to the very dubious nature of the sale, the issue of the sale of BARC Farm continues to raise questions years after it was sold.

“One of the major problems is that to date, nobody has been held accountable for the amount the company was sold or for and the nature of the financial accounting into the state government. “Different figures have been brandished and stated over the years since 1993.

During the sale, the MD of PIPC Ltd Ezekiel Gomos handled the process from the beginning.  Being a very close friend of the Governor, he was later appointed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and continued to dodge the question of how much BARC Farm was sold for and what account the funds were paid into.  He initially said the company had been sold for N19 million. “Other documents quote him saying it was sold for N18 million. When questioned in previous years, he said it was sold for N27 million. Another answer he gave in subsequent years was that it was sold for N54 million. Documents exist for all these statements.

“It was also discovered that initially instead of receiving a payment from ILHAMA Ltd the buyer, the amount received was fraudulently described as a “loan” of N17 million given to government and it is claimed that it was paid back to the buyer rather than retained as part payment for the company. “At the time of sale, the 5,000 hectare land on which the company was built was valued at N2 million and the local original owners have expressed much distress at being cheated by the government. Their cry has never been heard due to constant manipulation of the facts”, a source said.

The source added further that, in 2015, Mr Ezekiel Gommos joined the new government of Plateau State at first without any official appointment, claimed to be the Chairman of PIPC Ltd, the company where he was once Managing Director during the BARC Farm sale transaction. It should be noted that he worked there alongside the man that is now Governor Lalong. During the Barc Farm transaction in 1993, Lalong was a barrister at PIPC so he was intricately involved in the process.

“Since 2015, Gomos has been aggressively offering to broker the reverse sale of BARC Farm from Admiral Nyako back to Plateau State Government, first for the amount of N1.8 billion and in 2017 the value almost doubled to N3 billion all without ever fully disclosing the original sale price and where the money was paid. Nor ever showing how this astronomical buy-back amount was reached. Initial investigations shows that this jump from N1.8 billion to N3 billion is to accommodate key principals of PLSG.

Yet they have commenced celebrations that N3 billion of the recent Paris Club refund, instead of being spent on public services and paying long suffering workers’ salaries, has been withdrawn and put aside to buy back Barc Farm”, he revealed.

During previous governments, numerous questions have been asked about the whereabouts of the money transacted from 1993 to date. Under former Governor Joshua Dariye, an investigation committee was set up headed by the Special Adviser on Legal Matters.  The committee discovered that indeed the money received from Admiral Nyako as not fully disclosed, nor was it paid into the government account. The
committee paid a visit to Admiral Nyako, who said he paid N180 million
in purchase of BARC Farm and he gave the payment to Mr Ezekiel Gommos,
who was SSG at the time of sale”. He said that despite paying in full, he was not given control of the company so in fear of losing his investment, he removed some assets from Barc Farm and tried to recover his loss.

“When the truth was uncovered and presented to Governor Dariye, mysteriously the committee’s final report never saw the light of day, much to the dismay of the committee members who had worked tirelessly to unraveling the mystery.
“While publicly, blame was heaped on the former Governor Tapgun, who in actual fact was not responsible for this debacle. He was also unaware that someone in government had orchestrated the entire scam.

“During those years, it was very obvious that Mr Ezekiel Gommos made a meteorically  rise to wealth, culminating in him sending his entire family to live in the United States of America and living an extravagant lifestyle. “He is also known to own large properties in the USA, in Abuja and in Jos, Plateau State including hotels and a business school which he sold to the former Governor Jang administration for an astronomical sum of around N350 million well above any reasonable value for a property of that size in Plateau State.

“In 2011, Sahara Reporters media reported on the sale of the BARC Farm and raised questions about why the mysterious sale still remains unresolved.

“More recently the 2017 declaration of the buying back of Barc Farm at N3 billion has been heralded by the ignorant as a great achievement.
People are actively discussing how the value can be justified, especially if one bears in mind that in 2016 EFCC seized all of Admiral Nyako’s properties. If this farm was sold to Admiral Nyako then there is no need to buy it back since the Federal Government will return it to Plateau state government.

“The federal authorities seem to be unaware while the latest fictitious sale is once again allowed to take place and the farm continues to be used as a mule”, the group alleged.

Also under the radar for additional investigation is the deal between the Plateau state Government and Hummer Drinks (the company that rejuvenated the Plateau State Highland Bottling Company). Investigations by independent consultants in Jos indicates that Plateau state government which owns the land, buildings and other machineries – only has a 33.33% stake in the partnership, while Hummer Drinks, a company which fronts for key people within PLSG has 67.66%. This shocking arrangement means Plateau state is being completely short-changed in it potential earnings. It means the company has somewhat been sold to the Hummer Drinks consortium  because it owns the majority share. Essentially, PLSG does not own the Plateau Highland company, with a meagre 33.33% stake, but it is owned by whoever has entered the “fronting” arrangement with Hummer Drinks. Investigations about the arrangement is continuing and shall be published on ViewPointNigeria, Sahara Reporters and other new sites in a few weeks.

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Group fingers Lalong and Gomos in BARC Farms deal scandal