Allegations of Fraud By Sijibomi Ogundele and Labor Exploitation at Sujimoto Construction Company
$325,000 / 90 Million fraud: Sujimoto Group CEO, Sijibomi Ogundele arrested and more
Sijibomi Ogundele, often heralded as Nigeria’s youngest billionaire and a visionary in the luxury real estate sector, has been a polarizing figure since founding Sujimoto Group in 2013. Born on April 8, 1981, in Agege, Lagos, Ogundele rose from humble beginnings to helm a company that promised to redefine luxury living in Nigeria with projects like the LeonardoBySujimoto and LucreziaBySujimoto.
His narrative of overcoming poverty through entrepreneurial grit has inspired many, yet as of 2024 and 2025, this image has been increasingly overshadowed by serious allegations of fraudulent practices and labor disputes at Sujimoto Construction Company, a subsidiary of Sujimoto Group.
This report delves into these accusations, exploring claims of financial misrepresentation, unpaid investments, and worker exploitation between 2024 and 2025, while assessing their implications for Ogundele’s legacy and Nigeria’s real estate industry.
Ogundele’s journey is rooted in a compelling backstory. Raised in Agege, a working class Lagos suburb, he was shaped by his mother’s entrepreneurial spirit and his father’s corporate discipline. After studying law at Anglia Ruskin University, he ventured into real estate, founding Sujimoto Construction with ambitions to rival global luxury developers. The company gained prominence with high profile projects in upscale areas like Banana Island and Ikoyi, boasting clients such as pop star Davido and multinational executives. By 2020, Ogundele claimed Sujimoto Group was worth over $400 million, with annual revenues of $30 million, positioning it as a leader in Nigeria’s luxury real estate market.
Sujimoto’s marketing leaned heavily on Ogundele’s persona charismatic, ambitious, and unapologetic. Projects like the LucreziaBySujimoto, billed as Africa’s tallest residential building, and the LeonardoBySujimoto promised cutting edge features like glass reinforced concrete facades, private IMAX cinemas, and full home automation. Yet, beneath the glossy brochures and bold claims, cracks began to emerge, particularly in 2024 and 2025, as clients, investors, and workers raised concerns about unmet promises and financial irregularities.
Allegations of Fraudulent Activity
The period from 2024 to 2025 marked a turning point for Ogundele and Sujimoto Construction, with multiple allegations of fraud surfacing. These claims, ranging from misrepresentation in property deals to withholding investor funds, have fueled a narrative of deceit that contrasts sharply with Ogundele’s public image.
The $325,000 Fraud Case: Arrest and Investigation
On December 1, 2024, Ogundele was arrested by the Nigerian Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) in Abuja over an alleged $325,000 fraud. The arrest followed a petition by human rights lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi, representing Kabiru Ibrahim, who accused Ogundele of obtaining funds under false pretenses. According to the petition, in November 2020, Ibrahim paid $325,000 half of a $650,000 total for a three bedroom flat in the LeonardoBySujimoto estate. The property, initially priced at $750,000, was offered at a discount with assurances of completion. However, by 2024, Ibrahim alleged that no significant construction progress had been made, suggesting the funds were misappropriated.
Reports indicate Ogundele was detained briefly and released on bail, with the police confirming an ongoing investigation. The case, widely covered by outlets like Punch and WitnessNG, raised questions about Sujimoto’s financial management. Critics pointed to a pattern of overpromising using lavish marketing to secure funds without delivering tangible results. While Ogundele’s camp dismissed the incident as a misunderstanding, the lack of a detailed public rebuttal fueled speculation about the company’s solvency.
The N90.96 Million Investment Dispute
In March 2025, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) published a report detailing another financial grievance against Sujimoto Construction. A Lagos based investor, identified as Isaac, claimed the company withheld N90.96 million of his investment and promised returns. Isaac’s story began in 2021 when he invested N70 million, rolling it over multiple times at Ogundele’s urging. By July 2024, the matured sum, with reinvested profits, had grown to N120.96 million. However, when payment was due, Sujimoto remitted only N30 million, leaving a balance of N90.96 million unpaid.
Isaac criticized the company’s opacity, noting that requests for clarification were met with vague responses. FIJ’s attempts to contact Sujimoto yielded no substantive reply calls went unanswered, and emails bounced back. This incident, reported on March 6, 2025, intensified scrutiny of Ogundele’s business practices, with some likening the roll over requests to a Ponzi scheme, where new investments might be used to pay earlier ones. While no legal ruling has confirmed this, the unpaid sum and lack of communication damaged Sujimoto’s credibility further.
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Broader Patterns of Delayed Projects
Beyond these specific cases, 2024 and 2025 saw growing discontent over Sujimoto’s project timelines. The LeonardoBySujimoto, a flagship development, faced repeated delays, with investors who paid deposits years earlier expressing frustration over stalled progress. Posts on X and articles, such as one by HeraldNG on March 25, 2025, highlighted a sentiment that Ogundele’s ambitious pitches often outstripped his company’s capacity to deliver. The LucreziaBySujimoto, promised for completion by December 2021, remained incomplete by 2025, despite Ogundele’s claims of revolutionary luxury. These delays, coupled with the financial allegations, suggested to critics that Sujimoto might be grappling with cash flow issues, potentially diverting client funds to sustain operations rather than completing projects.
Non Payment of Workers: A Labor Crisis Emerges
Parallel to the fraud allegations, reports surfaced in 2025 accusing Sujimoto Construction of failing to pay its workers, adding a labor dimension to the company’s woes. These claims, while less documented than the financial disputes, have amplified perceptions of mismanagement and ethical lapses under Ogundele’s leadership.
Scott Igunma’s Public Accusation
On March 24, 2025, a post on instagram by Scott Igunma, who alleged that Sujimoto had not paid staff salaries since December 2024. Igunma’s claim, lacking detailed corroboration, nonetheless sparked online discussion about worker treatment at the company. Given Sujimoto’s workforce reportedly over 200 professionals and 100 skilled laborers by 2021 the accusation hinted at a significant labor crisis. If true, unpaid wages spanning four months (December 2024 to March 2025) would affect dozens, if not hundreds, of employees, from architects to construction workers.
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The lack of official statements from Sujimoto or Ogundele in response to Igunma’s claim left room for speculation. Posts on X reflected mixed reactions some users expressed outrage, while others questioned the evidence. Without payroll records or worker testimonies in the public domain as of March 28, 2025, the allegation remains unverified but aligns with broader concerns about the company’s financial health. Non payment of staff could indicate severe liquidity problems, potentially linked to the unpaid investor funds and stalled projects.
Sujimoto’s labor practices have not been widely scrutinized in prior years, but the 2025 accusation echoes earlier challenges. During Nigeria’s economic recession in the mid 2010s, the LorenzoBySujimoto project faced setbacks, with Ogundele admitting to persevering through “nasty” criticism. While no explicit labor disputes were reported then, the current claims suggest a possible escalation of internal issues. Anonymous posts on X in early 2025 hinted at discontent among Sujimoto workers, with one user alleging that “staff are quietly leaving” due to unpaid wages and uncertainty about project funding. Though anecdotal, these sentiments underscore a narrative of instability within the company.
Ogundele’s Response and Sujimoto’s Silence
Ogundele has historically positioned himself as a resilient leader, emphasizing integrity and quality as Sujimoto’s core values. Following his December 2024 arrest, sources close to the company suggested the $325,000 case was exaggerated by rivals jealous of his success. However, no comprehensive defense has addressed the 2025 allegations, including the N90.96 million dispute or the worker payment issue. Sujimoto’s official channels have remained largely silent, with attempts by journalists and clients to engage the company met with unresponsiveness a stark contrast to its once vocal marketing campaigns.
This reticence has been a double edged sword. On one hand, it avoids escalating public disputes; on the other, it leaves allegations unchallenged, allowing skepticism to fester. Ogundele’s past statements, such as his 2021 claim to The Nation that “every setback is a strategic way of God setting me up for greater opportunities,” suggest a personal philosophy of perseverance, but without concrete action or transparency, this optimism rings hollow to critics in 2025.
The allegations against Ogundele and Sujimoto Construction raise a fundamental question: do they reflect deliberate fraud or systemic mismanagement? The $325,000 and N90.96 million cases share common threadsfunds collected for promised deliverables that failed to materialize, coupled with poor communication. These could point to intentional misrepresentation, where Ogundele knowingly solicited money without intent to fulfill obligations. Alternatively, they might indicate overambition and financial overextension, where Sujimoto bit off more than it could chew amid Nigeria’s volatile economic climate.
The worker payment issue complicates this further. Non payment since December 2024, if substantiated, suggests cash flow shortages severe enough to halt payroll a red flag for a company claiming multimillion dollar revenues. Yet, without audited financial statements or insider testimony, it’s unclear whether this stems from fraud (e.g., diverting funds for personal gain) or mismanagement (e.g., prioritizing project costs over labor). Nigeria’s real estate sector, notorious for weak regulation, provides fertile ground for both scenarios, making definitive conclusions elusive pending legal outcomes.
Public Perception and Media Coverage
Public sentiment, as gauged from X posts and media reports, has shifted markedly in 2024–2025. Once celebrated as a symbol of Nigerian ambition, Ogundele is now a lightning rod for criticism. A HeraldNG article on March 25, 2025, titled “Unmasking the Allegations Against Sijibomi Ogundele,” captured this pivot, dissecting the “controversy” with a tone of disillusionment. On X, users have oscillated between condemning Ogundele as a “scammer” and cautioning against unproven claims, reflecting a polarized audience.
Media coverage has been robust but uneven. Outlets like FIJ and Punch have provided detailed accounts of the fraud allegations, while the worker payment issue relies heavily on a single X post, highlighting a gap in investigative depth. This disparity suggests the labor story may be underreported, potentially due to workers’ reluctance to speak out or lack of access to whistleblowers.
As of March 28, 2025, Sijibomi Ogundele and Sujimoto Construction stand at a crossroads. The allegations of fraud $325,000 misappropriated from Kabiru Ibrahim, N90.96 million withheld from Isaac and the claim of unpaid workers since December 2024 paint a damning picture of a company in crisis. Yet, with investigations ongoing and no court rulings, these remain allegations, not convictions. Ogundele’s refusal to engage publicly, coupled with Sujimoto’s operational silence, leaves the truth obscured, inviting both sympathy for a struggling visionary and scorn for a potential fraudster.
For Ogundele, the stakes are personal and professional. A once inspiring tale of an Agege boy turned billionaire risks being rewritten as a cautionary fable of hubris. For Sujimoto Construction, the fallout threatens its survival, with investors and workers alike questioning its viability. For Nigeria’s real estate sector, the saga underscores the need for transparency and accountability, lest ambition outpace integrity. Until definitive evidence emerges, Ogundele’s legacy and Sujimoto’s future hang in a precarious balance, a narrative unfolding in real time as justice and public opinion weigh the scales.
