Maduako Igbokwe l Saturday, February 11, 2023
NNEWI, Anambra – Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Petronella Nigeria Ltd, Prince Charles Tabansi has reacted to claims by Innoson Motor that they did not breach terms of contract in the supply of 20 Units of Granite Diesel Pick Ups.
He said that out of the 20 vehicles ordered, Innoson Motors only supplied eight that did not meet the required specifications by their client, SHELL Petroleum.
He said he returned the eight faulty vehicles to Innoson Motors facility in Port Harcourt Rivers State and that the branch manager received them. He said he expected refund for the 12 vehicles they did supply while they discuss others but instead they decided not to mitigate their failure to meet contract terms and conditions .
Tabansi said that despite what has happened, Innoson issued them fake certification for the products.
“Innoson is being dishonest, just like he gave us fake documentation and he claimed that he gave us certification. They didn’t give us any certification rather what they gave us is fake. We asked him the name of the company that gave him the certification so that we can verify from the company, up till today, he has not given us the name of the company” he said.
Tabansi said many prominent people had intervened on the matter without success. According to him, Innoson is pretty sure that the vehicles are at his office in Port Harcourt.
“After we had gone to court, two prominent men, one from Ozubulu who is my close friend and another one from Nnewi, who is Innoson’s close ally, came together and said they don’t want all these problems among Igbo brothers, they begged me to forget the accrued interest and if he pays me my money that I should leave matters.
“After giving it a thought within a week, I agreed that I will forgo everything if the money is paid in bulk within the next few weeks, mind you, I have been paying interest on the money he collected up till now but I will forget it if he pays me all the money at once.
“These people went back to him and told him which he agreed but said his lawyer was in London, that we should wait till he returns back to Nigeria. I even said that he should refund me for the 12 vehicles he didn’t supply. He doubted how would he be sure that I won’t go to court but to reassure him, I obliged to sign undertaking that could be drafted by his lawyer that this would be the final settlement and I would not go to court while both of us would sign which should have ended the whole thing.
“He started dilly dallying, saying that we should wait for over two weeks. Mind you, this my transaction was done one on one with Innoson himself. These two prominent people had the discussion with me and Innoson over this matter in April year 2021.
“We returned his vehicles to Port Harcourt office on December 1,2021 and he knew that. Even in our court matter, he never said that we are still in custody of his vehicles. He earlier told us that we should keep the vehicles in our office and when their drivers are ready, they would come and collect them. We waited for one week, nobody came for the vehicles. He even requested for our account details but he didn’t pay back the money.
“On December 1, 2021, we decided to return the vehicles back to his Port Harcourt office and the vehicles were handed over to one Onyeka, his manager in PH. Onyeka begged us to keep them in our office, that they will come for them but I refused because if anything happens to the vehicles, I would be held responsible. Besides, we don’t have the insurance to transport the vehicles back to Nnewi. If Police catch us, what do you think would be our defense, that we are driving unmarked vehicles and we are not dealers. We don’t have any right to drive those vehicles.
“Now, out of 20 vehicles, assuming without conceding that he is right, that we are holding the vehicles, we paid him for 20 vehicles remaining N15 million, what stops him from returning the money for the ones he didn’t deliver? He didn’t deliver the 12 vehicles, why is he holding the money for the 12 vehicles? Innoson is being dishonest, just like he gave us fake documentation and he claimed that he gave us certification.
“They didn’t give us any certification rather what they gave us is fake. We asked him the name of the company that gave him the certification so that we can verify from the company, up till today, he has not given us the name of the company.
Nevertheless, the golden question to be asked is why is he still holding the money for the 12 vehicles that were not supplied. Besides, the reason why we didn’t complete the payment of the remaining N15 million is because from day one, we noticed he was not being honest.
“During that period, We were running late to provide those vehicles for SHELL company and the vehicles that were paid couldn’t be supplied at the stipulated date given to us. So, we kept calling them, asking for the vehicles and we decided to hold back the remaining money until the vehicles are supplied. A week later, they brought 5 vehicles and one of them had a minor mechanical problem which they asked us to send to their PH office under the care of Mr. Onyeka, the manager. Therefore, this bit by bit supply instantly created doubt on them.
” I exhausted all peaceful approaches within December period of 2021 to get back my money without success, then in January 5, 2022, I sued him with his company, INNOSON”
According to him, the job is for SHELL Company in Port Harcourt and they have been working with them for a long time.
He stated that there are over 80 operational vehicles they wanted to change in that company by procuring new brand ones, noting that in the past, they usually engage Toyota products for such replacement.
Tabansi said it is the fifth time they have changed vehicles in the company and they are supposed to have started the changing of the vehicles since October 1, 2021when the contract was signed but before then, a friend of mine visited him with Innoson vehicle product called Innoson Granite (Diesel) pick up.
“I test ran the vehicle and expressed surprise for Innoson to have involved in such an amazing product. That was when I told my friend that I would like to patronize the product as my brother in manufacturing of vehicles even as I would like to initially engage the company with 20 vehicles. At that weekend, I was coming to Anambra state and I decided to stop over at Innoson Manufacturing Industry at Nnewi to enquire from them whether they still have such Innoson Granite pick up products in stock and how soon could the 20 pieces be ready so as to commence the payment.
At this point, I was directed to the General Manager, Mr. Kingsley Amala whom I equally met and told him my mission, that I needed 20 pickups and that I have seen the products which I like, then how soon could they be delivered. I also told him that there would be something to send to them through mail to ensure that all the vehicles needed would possess all the safety features that SHELL required. This safety certificate paper(mail) called NCAP certificate which demands for five star rating.
“After the discussion, Amala assured that after the advance payment, the twenty vehicles would be delivered within 2 weeks. As we are discussing, I saw my friend, Afred Nwosu in the same factory who told me he was the Director General of the company and we exchanged banters as well informed him what brought me there. He asked me whether I have not met the owner of Innoson motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma before, I said no, then he pointed at him and I had a hand shake with him, introduced myself and I told him he was making Ndigbo proud. I also told him that I came to patronize him in his little way and wished to buy 20 vehicles at the beginning. This incident occurred in the late August 2021.
“Though, this supply of vehicles with the SHELL was then about to be signed and Chief Innocent promised to give us a price of the vehicles. After discussion with him, we arrived to the amount of N21.5m for each pickup. You see, we used to buy Hilux SUV for the SHELL at N24.5m and Innoson was giving us at near price, it was not because of the cheapness but for the sake of that I wish to patronize my brother.
“Even at a time, people were asking us to leave buying the vehicles because they have no second hand value that could yield in reselling them at later time of duration but I insisted to patronize the indigenous company of our own.
“On September 4, 2021, I told my people before paying the company, the mails containing exactly the list of what the SHELL really needed were sent to them including demand for how many years guarantee. For this, the company said would give 2 year guaranty while we asked for 3 years just like other companies do.
“On September 7, 2021, the company replied the mails, giving a guarantee that the vehicles had the features enumerated and I personally called Chief Innocent, remanding him that the NCAP certificate of the company is very important to SHELL but he insisted that he had them, after all, he had supplied SHELL some vehicles in 2019 and 2020, whence he provided evidence.
Meanwhile, the 20 pieces of the SUV at N21.5m will give the grand total of N430million, then, I started negotiating with the First Bank which agreed to finance the purchase and I paid Innoson an advance of N65million to resume production. After signing the contract in October 2021 with Innoson, I started arranging with the Bank for loan facilities and our own equity contribution in the loan was used in the advance payment while the loan proper will be used to furnish the main amount of the vehicles.
“We told Innoson that the balance would be completed when the production is ready but after about 10 days, the General Manager called me and told me that the 20 vehicles are ready and we should pay up. I sent my General Manager and somebody from the bank to go and inspect the vehicles. The Manager went there around October 26, 2021 and inspected the vehicles and told me the vehicles are there and he could count up 50 vehicles; consequently, our 20 pieces are ready. We then confirmed to the bank about the readiness of the vehicles and the next day, bank prepared papers and we transferred N350million to Innoson, remaining N15million balance which I suppose to pay from my purse.
“Actually, this payment was on Friday, we then believed they should start supplying us with the vehicles within the weekend. We waited till Monday and Tuesday the next week, no supply and I should have transferred them the remaining N15million on that Monday but as things started getting funny, I withheld the balance. At this point, they gave excuses that Mondays was sit at home for Nnamdi Kanu’s court matter and the weekend, their drivers weren’t available and after 8 days later, I was called. They said they were on the way with the vehicles. I sent my workers to receive the vehicles and I was later called and informed only 5 vehicles were brought.
“I asked them why the short supply and I was already running late on delivering the vehicles as agreed with the SHELL and said they will come back again with more vehicles. It took them another one week to come with only 4 vehicles, making 9 in total supply so far. Among the vehicles supplied, one of them was having a noise problem from the engine and we requested for those that came to take back the one with problem but they refused, saying that we should take the vehicle to their office at Port Harcourt to look into it.
We were confused with the whole thing as I was losing money because that money was borrowed from bank and I pay interest. At this level, I sent my Manager to go to the factory and know exactly what was happening. He got there and could not see any vehicle again. He met the Managing Director and he was complaining that they are only expecting engines of the motors as the bodies are already available for coupling.
“Chief Innocent complained about having too much pressure of demand and call was placed across between me and Chief Innocent when I told him that my engaging with him was merely to patronize him as a brother and if these vehicles are not practically ready now, better refund me the money to buy Hilux Pickups in order to avoid misunderstanding and not to lose the job.
“Chief Innocent promised to look into this and within some reasonable period, he didn’t react to this, then I consulted my lawyer who asked me if we were writing down this contract on pen and paper, I said no but only on trust. After about three weeks elapsed, I wrote a letter to Chief Innocent stating that it was like the business with him is a scam. He replied that they could have refunded the money but due to some business pressure and that I didn’t include the Account details where the company should send back the money.
“On the same November 20, 2021, I hurriedly sent him the account details and I apologized for the mistake of not including my account number, asking him to give us back the money for the remaining 12 vehicles that were not supplied, so that we can complement the other ones supplied with Hilux products.
Before accepting any vehicle, SHELL will inspect all the vehicles and the ones discovered to be faulty would be sent for repair but until they came to the issue of certificate of NCAP, they requested for it from Innoson. I sent a mail to Innoson to that effect and the next day, Innocent sent one mail including a purported NCAP certificate which I forwarded to SHELL without looking into it because I so much trusted him at the time. The next day, Innocent resent another mail, saying the previous was erroneously sent and I immediately forwarded to SHELL. The next day, the Manager of SHELL BP called me and asked me whether I looked into what I sent that the certificate is okay but didn’t include the company that produced it and its website. Also that they needed to have the name of the company and the website for independent investigation.
“The SHELL Company thereby sent me a mail to that effect which I forwarded to Innoson, informing him to read the mail and see the request from SHELL. Chief Innocent stopped answering my calls and till today, he has not responded to that mail. This was happening around November 15, 2021.
“Later, SHELL sent a reminder which I also forwarded to him and I decided to look into that mail he sent to me. It happened that the first one belongs to Toyota Hilux and the second one is the same with Toyota but removed the picture of Toyota Company and planted picture of Innoson Granite. If you look at them, they look alike but the pictures and names are different, and the main name of the company that made the certification was removed. When I requested for the reason of sending us such dubious materials, nobody talked to us till date.
“So, after a week, the SHELL Company rejected the vehicles and that was around November 26, 2021. I immediately sent a letter to Chief Innocent, informing about the rejection and they should come and take back the 8 vehicles already supplied due to their bad condition. I equally informed him that Innoson Company should refund us the N 415 million we paid to them.
“Innocent replied and insisted that the vehicles are in good condition and if SHELL still insists of returning them, there is no problem, but their drivers to bring them back were not available. I suggested to arrange taking them to their PH office, he refused, saying they should be returned to Nnewi main office. At the same time, I tried to let him reason with me that it would be unlawful to arrange for taking vehicles without plate numbers(unmarked vehicles) to a distant journey to Nnewi, he maintained to take them back when his drivers are available.
“We waited for them for a week but nobody came, I wrote to them on December 2, 2021, informing them that the vehicles would be sent to their office in PH but in swift reaction, he maintained that he won’t refund any money if the vehicles were not returned to Nnewi main office. I asked him to, at least, to make haste to refund the money for the 12 vehicles that were not supplied at all, he refused. I begged him to an extent of involving some personalities to ask him to pay me which he insisted that the vehicles must be returned to Nnewi and be inspected to see if there are damages which will reflect the money that will be refunded.
“I exhausted all peaceful approaches within the December period of 2021 to get back my money without success, then in January 5, 2022, I sued him with his company, INNOSON.
“At this point, his allies were calling me, asking me to withdraw the case because he can influence it and it will be there for donkey years. I only responded that if I can be assured that my money would be paid, I wouldn’t mind to write an undertaking that I will withdraw the case.
“We are disputing that Chief Innocent provided us with fake documents and the vehicles did not meet our purpose. To worsen the situation, he didn’t deliver the 12 remaining vehicles and doesn’t want to refund the money already paid for them in advance. So, Chief Innocent, Innoson is presently indebted to me to the tune N415million at present and I have dispatched all his 8 vehicles supplied to his office in PH.
“Nevertheless, Innoson, through their Counsel, has responded to our litigation recently after a long delay. Meanwhile, Innoson vehicles Manufacturing (IVM) has described as false the media report currently circulating in some social media platforms and news platforms that it did not supply quality vehicles to Petronella Nigeria Ltd.
According to the Head Corporate Communications, IVM Innoson Group, Mr. Cornell Osigwe, it is highly misleading that Vehicles did not meet the standard required by its client. Osigwe further said that the company had not returned the vehicles it claimed not have met specifications.
He said IVM, manufactures durable and affordable vehicles that meets international specifications.
According to him “On our receipt of the part payment made by Petronella Nig Ltd, we supplied the first set of the vehicles to Petronella and it took delivery of them from our factory in Nnewi with a view that the remaining quantity will be supplied to it once we receive the outstanding purchase price.
“After a while, surprisingly, rather than pay their outstanding, Petronella said it was returning the ones it took delivery of. Then giving that we trust our quality and standard, and that the vehicles are in high demand, we asked Petronella to return the vehicles to our factory in Nnewi so we will refund it the purchase price it paid.
“However, up till this day, these vehicles are still in possession, custody of Petronella and has refused to return them to us as said above. We are willing to refund Petronella the purchase price once it returns these vehicles to us stated earlier, perhaps giving the passage of time in the state they were when it took delivery of them.
“Petronella Nig Ltd for whatever reason choose to approach the law court, we urge Petronella to allow wisdom prevail as we value every of our clients and treat them with utmost respect.
“Innoson Vehicles will continue to commit to manufacturing and sales of quality vehicles that meet world’s best standards and practices. While we also ensure that customers’ requirements are met at all times and continue to improve our quality management system”.
