BUA Group Sues Kainos Exploration Boss, James Onyejekwe Over $20m Bribe Allegations

The management of BUA Group has commenced legal actions against parties involved in spreading spurious allegations of corruption and involvement in a $20 million bribe scandal.

The leading conglomerate revealed that the corruption allegations which were published by some Nigerian news channels allegedly attributed to a purported statement by Alhaji Ibrahim Mai Deribe and Cavendish Petroleum with respect to BUA’s OML 110 as false, defamatory, malicious and libellous.

According to the statement published by the management of BUA, the Group had been duly contacted by Cavendish Petroleum as well as the alleged writer of the statement, Alhaji Ibrahim Mai Deribe and both parties have told BUA on the record that neither Cavendish, the Mai Deribe Family nor any of its Executives put out such a malicious statement.

The Group noted that the statement was made with the clear intent to impugn the integrity and reputation of BUA Group and its Chairman, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu.

An in-house investigation conducted by the Group revealed that the source of the fraudulent news is Mr James Onyejekwe, the MD of Kainos Exploration and Production.

In reaction to this, BUA has therefore instructed its legal team to immediately commence criminal defamation proceedings against the MD of Kainos, the said originator of the malicious letter fraudulently attributed to Alhaji Ibrahim Mai Deribe, with damages.

The legal action will also extend to the online blog, blazenews.com.ng – which first published the unsubstantiated malicious news without a careful fact check in their duty of journalistic care, to confirm and clarify the source of such a weighty allegation.

The Group believes these actions are necessary, in order to protect the name and reputation of the manufacturing conglomerate, noting that there is no reason why Mr. James Onyejekwe of Kainos Exploration and Processing would single out BUA in a supposed business dispute which had no link to the BUA Group in its entirety.