John Fashanu and others including Paul , Festus, Pastor Jide, Dr. Joseph and Ugbana at TP Factory Wales. Ex-England footballer John Fashanu is being taken to court in Nigeria for defrauding individuals amounts in excess of £100,000. The first case has been brought by Mr. Kayode Thomas and Miss Titi Onyekweli against John Fashanu. John Fashanu received £27,500 from Kayode Thomas as payment for sole Franchise for Lagos State, Nigeria for a product manufactured by a Welsh company Tyre Protector International (TP Int). The product is a pre-puncture tyre sealant.
Tyre Protector an SME, received funding from the Welsh Development Agency which is supported by the Welsh Assembly to establish and develop its product. In 2004 Tyre Protector International moved into Unit 31 at the Welsh Development Agency's Vastre Enterprise Park in Newtown where it was manufacturing its tyre sealant, it later moved to larger premises in 2006. The company approached John Fashanu in 2004 to produce a promotional DVD for its product following which they appointed John Fashanu as their Master Franchise holder for Africa.
In November 2005 John Fashanu met a UK based Nigerian Mr. Festus Ogunmola and discussed the Tyre Protector product with him. John claimed he was master Franchise holder for Nigeria with rights for Africa and encouraged Festus to purchase a franchise licence for a state in Nigeria claiming that several state licences had already been sold and the demand for the product outstripped supply. Mr. Ogunmola invited his UK based business associates Mr. Jide Modede and Mr. Ugbana Oyet to meetings with John Fashanu at which John made many promises and claims including that there was a shipment of Tyre Protector product to Nigeria which would arrive for a national product launch in December 2005. John also promised to use his influence to ensure the business was a success for Festus and his associates. John claimed his motivation was to empower Africans.
When Festus and his associates queried John regarding set up costs and product training. John promised that the factory in Wales would provide all the necessary training and support. John Fashanu also told Festus and his associates that they would act as middle men and would not be involved in any direct selling or installation of the product. John told them to recruit distributors and charge licence fees, the distributors should do the same and recruit wholesalers, who should recruit retailers, who should recruit installers. John emphasized that Festus and his associates did not have to sell or install the product for the end user and could just sell on to others in a long chain.
Mr. Ogunmola together with his business associates Pastor Jide Modede and Mr. Ugbana Oyet paid £20,000 to John Fashanu for the franchise for Oyo State, Nigeria. John then embarked on aggressively recruiting other UK based Nigerians to invest in franchises in Tyre Protector.
December 2005 came and went, and there was no shipment or product launch in Nigeria. By February 2006, the promised product shipment and launch in Nigeria was becoming a cause of tension between John Fashanu and the Oyo State team of Festus, Pastor Jide and Ugbana. The Oyo State team had rented an office in Ibadan, Nigeria, recruited staff from the UK whom they relocated to Nigeria and also recruited local staff in Nigeria.
When it became apparent that the product and launch promised by John Fashanu were unlikely to materialise. The Oyo state team paid the sum of £6,600 direct to Tyre Protector International in Wales to have Tyre Protector product delivered to their premises in Ibadan, Nigeria, a six week delivery was quoted.
March, April, May, June, July – no shipment, no delivery, no launch. During this period John Fashanu kept on his aggressive recruitment of more franchise holders. He collected £20,000 from a Dr. Joseph Anyaoha for Abia, State Nigeria; £27,500 from a Dr. Vincent for Delta state and £27,500 from Kayode Thomas for Lagos State.
Come July 2006, John Fashanu suddenly relocated from the UK to Nigeria. Weeks later he invited the Oyo State team and others to what he inferred was the product launch he had promised. The launch was held in Lagos State, Nigeria. On arrival at the launch, the representatives for Oyo State discovered that the launch was not sponsored by Fashanu as he had inferred, but was a state launch paid for by the Lagos State franchise holders Mr. Kayode Thomas and Miss Titi Onyekweli. It also turned out that John had no Tyre Protector product in Nigeria to use for the launch. Oyo state came to the rescue with a 25 litre sample barrel of the product they had previously obtained for trials and testing.
During the product launch it became apparent that Mr. Kayode Thomas and his Lagos State team were having problems with John Fashanu very similar to that of the Oyo State team; and to no one’s surprise the Abia State team were also having very similar problems with John Fashanu.
Following this, in August 2006 the Lagos, Abia and Oyo State teams agreed to meet with Tyre Protector International and John Fashanu to find a resolution to the problems. John Fashanu failed to attend the meeting. The meeting was held between Kayode Thomas, Pastor Jide, Festus, Ugbana, Paul Butterworth (Tyre Protector International), and Paul’s solicitor. At the meeting Tyre Protector International stated that John Fashanu should not be charging licence fees or signing franchise licence agreements and it was against their policy. Tyre Protector International listened to the grievances and concerns raised by all parties and promised to work with John Fashanu to address the issues. During the meeting Paul Butterworth of Tyre Protector International also recounted that the Ghanaian franchise holder had had similar problems with John Fashanu. This concurred to an extent with an account John had given to the Oyo State team about a battle he had with franchise holders in Ghana.
September, October 2006, Tyre Protector International failed to take action to resolve the grievances.
Oyo State team then wrote to John Fashanu and Tyre Protector International demanding compensation for their investments in Tyre Protector. John Fashanu responded stating he would sell are yet to receive any compensation
from John Fashanu or Tyre Protector International.
John Fashanu is still aggressively recruiting investors both in Nigeria and
the UK, for what is essentially a fraud. Investors pay a £27,500 fee for a franchise in the knowledge that they will
receive training, product and equipment to install the product; and that John Fashanu will provide a product launch. What investors actually receive from John Fashanu, is demands for more
payments: for product, for shipment, for product launch, for installation equipment
and any other expenses he may deem necessary. And as for the delivery the Oyo State franchise to others and compensate the Oyo State team. To date the Oyo State team period, think of pregnant women, allow at least 9 months.
The affected franchise holders feel obliged to warn other Nigerians based in the UK and in Nigeria about this fraud being perpetuated by John Fashanu and his partners at the Welsh Assembly funded company Tyre Protector International. The franchise holders also want to warn the Welsh Assembly to be more diligent in scrutinising the companies they sponsor.
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