Leo Stan Ekeh, the Chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited has opened up about an alleged blackmail incident that has lingered in the court of law and has also seen his name dragged in the mud.
Ekeh disclosed this in his speech to a cross-section of budding African entrepreneurs and postgraduate scholars drawn from select foreign universities at the end of his final virtual mentorship project for 2022.
In the last decade, Ekeh’s company has been involved in a court suit that alleges that about N170 million in fraud was committed in the process of executing a government contract.
The case stems from a business transaction between Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, owned by one Benjamin Joseph, and Technology Distributions (TD), a company owned by Ekeh. Citadel Oracle, along with 12 other companies, won a contract to supply HP laptops to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2012.
The company approached Technology Distributions, an authorized HP distributor and the biggest ICT distributor in sub-Saharan Africa, to supply them with the laptops on credit pending payment by the FIRS.
After a fallout with his partner over the profit-sharing formula and intention to divert TD’s fund, Joseph decided to report the matter to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID), making false claims.
Speaking on the matter, Ekeh said, Joseph, claimed in his statement to the security agencies that no computers were supplied to FIRS by TD. He also claimed that he was not aware of the contract, but both claims were refuted with concrete evidence as it was proven that laptops were indeed supplied and Joseph indeed signed the documents.
He said that even though the case involved one of his subsidiaries, Technology Distributions, Mr Joseph kept dragging Zinox in the press, all in an effort to rubbish Ekeh’s good name.
He added that Joseph’s plan, even though it failed, was to destroy the global credit of Zinox so as to get discourage its multinational partners.
Doubling down on his outright dismissal of the antics of blackmailers, the Zinox boss told the graduands that entrepreneurs today must be watchful at the growing threat of blackmail in professional quarters.
He said:
“In the tech business, we do not pay blackmailers because technology does not lie and that is the biggest mistake he has made in his life. Never concede to blackmailers. Be humble but launch out with confidence as far as you have content to deliver. Blackmailers don’t last in the business.
“Therefore, you must investigate your accuser or blackmailer to fully understand what is at play. It could cost you some money, but technology has made it easier and could be a great lesson. I can tell you that our group’s staff learned a lot from this experience.
Ventures Africa rates Ekeh as one of the top tech CEOs in Nigeria. His contributions to Africa’s ICT space date back to the 1990s with the establishment of Task System Limited.
He later founded Zinox Technologies Limited in 2001, becoming the first computer hardware manufacturing company and ICT integration company in Nigeria to receive ISO 9001-2000.
His other strings of businesses include Task Direct Limited, Technology Distribution Limited, Konga, Buy Right Africa DotCom and ITEC Solutions.
The 66-year-old serial entrepreneur is one of the richest people in Nigeria. He is reportedly worth about $1 billion, according to Wealthresult.
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