Chux Okwuosa, a Lagos-based animation designer, has accused Bede Eke, a former member of the House of Representatives, of reneging on the terms of a verbal contract they struck in October 2024.
Okwuosa said Eke, who now lives in Dublin, Ireland, hired him to design an animation, pledging to pay $8,500 upon completion, and then use his work to secure funding of $20,000 from investors. However, Eke paid him N1 million and has been offering to pay him a balance of N2.5 million, bringing the total to N3.5 million.
With the current exchange rate of $1/N1,531, the designer’s fee equals N13,013,500, a N9,513,500 difference from what Eke intends to pay.
On December 23, Okwuosa told FIJ that he first got in touch with Eke two months earlier when Philip Iroegbu, a friend of his, mentioned the ex-lawmaker needed his services.
“Eke owns iCode Project, a new government template,” Okwuosa told FIJ.
“He told me he wanted me to design something with the tag ‘African Operating System’ and another copy titled ‘Biafran Operating System’.”
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WhatsApp messages Eke sent to the designer at the time read, “If you can do it, and I send it to the likes of President Goodluck Jonathan, you can get the money faster, but please tell me how much you are going to charge me last[sic]. I don’t want to compare with anyone else.”
Okwuosa said Eke, who now lives in Dublin, hired him to design an animation, pledging to pay $8,500 upon completion.
Okwuosa replied, “The 3D modelling and animations will take me 13 days. The quality and value of the final product will be $35,000 but because I am part of this project now, I will accept $8,500 to execute the task.”
The designer then requested a $2,000 initial payment to release a preview copy, and a balance of $6,500 to claim the final copy, but Eke refused.
On December 5, Eke told him to send an invoice of $20,000. He said, “I will use it to apply for an innovation grant. I will then share the money, but it will go to your account. Do the documents in your business name. But I need the full copy, not a preview copy, to get it.”
Eke then added that they were going to have issues if Okwuosa did not send the finished material to him as he needed it to make his proposals.
When Okwuosa insisted on a 30% initial payment, Eke responded, “If I have money, I will shock you. You don’t know me. I buy cars and dash people. Distrusting me makes me angry.”
Okwuosa later sent the final copy to the ex-lawmaker, but only got a N1 million payment with a promise of N2.5 million.
On January 17, FIJ called Eke multiple times, but he did not take our calls. FIJ sent him a message, but he did not respond. Subsequent messages did not deliver, suggesting he blocked the number.
The post Former Lawmaker Bede Eke Agreed to Pay Animation Designer $8,500. He Reneged on Deal, Offered Only N3.5m appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.