By JOSEPH USHIGIALE, 06.27.2009
It’s been seven years since a highly connected Chadian seized 62 haulage trucks pooled together by a Nigerian haulage consortium, Ralph Enterprises Limited. In this report JOSEPH USHIGIALE reveals that the Chadian, Nasiri Dien confiscated the 62 trucks under the guise of partnering with the Nigerians to execute a multi-million dollar pipeline haulage contract for Wilbros, an oil service company contracted to construct a pipeline linking the oil fields in Southern Chad for the transportation of crude oil to Kribi seaport in Cameroun
The three men sat huddled behind the skeleton of what used to be an ornate table. Their countenance was a mixture of both retired resignation and hope. For seven years since 2002, the trio had lost hope that 62 haulage trucks of different models comprising Mack, Iveco seized from them by Nasiri Dien, a cousin to the Chadian President, in a haulage lease deal brokered through the Nigerian Embassy in N’djamena would ever be released despite innumerable interventions from the Nigerian Government.
Even in this unfortunate state they still nurse the hope that, with a stroke of luck, the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua would intervene and kick start the process of first providing an interim respite of compensating them while negotiating with the Chadian authorities to bring their years of agony to a fruitful end.
As they sat across the table from this reporter, they cut a visible picture of a group that has been to hell and back literarily. “We have exhausted virtually all avenues to recover our trucks but our efforts have met a brick wall because of the belligerent attitude of Nasiri and the Chadian Government.” Mohammed Dili, spokesman of the group began his narration.
In their distraught situation, the meeting with this reporter started on a suspicious note as the following encountered unfolded:
Dili: Where do you say you write for?
Reporter: In THISDAY, the corporate headquarters in Lagos.
Dili: Do you know Nosike?
Reporter: Of course, the Group Political Editor you mean?
Dili: Yes, but he doesn’t seem to know you and has called your office in Abuja and no one seems to have heard about you?
At this point, this reporter flashed his identification card before them and then fished out his mobile phone from his pocket and dialed Nosike’s mobile number simultaneously with Dili. After several rings without a response, the reporter suddenly realised and announced that “he could be in an editorial meeting.”
Dili: Why are you interested in this matter because we have done everything we could, even invited BBC, Deutshwelle and other international media houses who accompanied us to N’djamena and nothing came out of it?
Reporter: Well this is THISDAY and I have an interest in bringing this story back to life; perhaps, the international press missed certain salient points.
With these explanations, the group now relaxed and began a blow by blow account of its seven year ordeal in the hands of the Chadians authorities. Ostensibly, from their corroborated accounts, the ordeal of the group, comprising Ralph Oragwu, Mohammed Dili and Sabo Haruna that floated the Ralph Enterprises Limited, the company name used to secure the haulage contract with the Chadians, is a double jeopardy. According to the group “Nobody believes us now. We are viewed as accessories after the criminal act notwithstanding what we, as individuals, are going through. Our agony is compounded by the fact that those truck owners who entrusted their trucks to us in good faith are on our necks. They believe we have ruined their businesses and families. They are right but we had good intentions not evil. What we were doing was for our common good and for Nigeria.”Making of a Deal
From all the documents made available to THISDAY, the haulage contract laid out by the Chadians to their Nigerian counterparts was a done deal, as businessmen are wont to say, it was signed sealed and delivered. But with human nature, where greed rather than responsible business ethics rule the business firmament, the deal could as well have been sealed and delivered in hell as the Ralph Group was to discover shortly afterwards that what you see is probably not what you get ultimately.
According to the group, in July 2002, Mohammed Dili was contacted by Mr. Agbilabor, first counselor minister in the Nigerian Embassy in Chad through Mohammed Bashir who invited the Ralph Group to Chad for a possible business deal. The deal in question was a World Bank project which involved the haulage of crude oil pipeline materials from the port of Douala, Cameroun to the newly discovered oilfields in Southern Chad.


Dili reportedly contacted Ralph and Haruna in Lagos and between them it was unanimously agreed that Ralph Enterprises Limited be used as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the transaction. The group then traveled from Maiduguri to N’djamena, and was received at the Chad-Camerounian border by representatives of TRANS–REGIONALES S.A, a Chadian company earlier introduced to them by officials of the Nigerian Embassy in N’djamena.

For details, go to source http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=147163