Mr Chen Dongfeng, the Managing Director of Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited, has dismissed in totality the unfounded story that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun, had deployed some police operatives to seal off the factory of Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited and harass the directors.
Dongfeng described the publication as baseless and fallacious, even as he emphatically stated that the revered Egbetokun never used policemen to seal the factory of Crown CERAMICS Nigeria Limited; neither did he deploy nor is he planning to use some policemen to harass and intimidate some directors and shareholders of the company.
Mr Dongfeng, in a statement, noted that the claim by one of the Directors of the company, Mr Zhang Kefeng, that the IGP is meddling in the internal affairs of the company is far from the truth.
He therefore urged the public, shareholders and the employees of the company to disregard the claim by Mr Zhang Kefeng, which was published in some online media.
In the said report, Mr Zhang Kefeng, together with three other Directors that included Mrs. Zhang Linshuang, Mr.Liu Zhengyu and Mrs.Liao Yuzhen, had alleged that the IGP was “using police to intimidate and harass the directors and shareholders of the company in favour of two others,” referring to the Managing Director, Mr. Chen Dongfeng, and another shareholder, Mr. Kong Jun.
They had also alleged that “the IGP is doing the bidding of Mr. Chen Dongfeng and Mr.Kong Jun” by sealing off the factory of the company at Igbesa, Ogun State and also using police to deny workers access to ithe company.
Mr Kefeng also petitioned President Bola Tinubu to call the IGP to order and also intervene in the matter.
However, Mr Dongfeng, in his own account, absolved the IGP of any blame and stated that the police did not seal the company as alleged.
He opined that it was Mr Zhang Kefeng and others who were conspiring and working to put the company in perpetual crisis.
“After the company was established in 2014, I, the Managing Director and the Chairman of the company, Mr Lin Feng, invited some other
Shareholders/Directors in 2015 joined the company. There are seven Shareholders and Directors in the company as of today, and all are Chinese.
“All the Directors/ Shareholders came together and made an agreement that under no circumstance must any shareholder establish a personal or any private company in Nigeria to also produce ceramic tiles that Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited produces to avoid conflict of interest and unnecessary competition between shareholders of the same company (Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited)”
“There was also an agreement that any shareholder who violated the agreement would lose his or her position as a Shareholder and as a Director, and his shares would be confiscated by the company. But it was later discovered that Mr. Zhang Kefeng and his sister, Mrs. Zhang Linshuang, went underground and established another ceramic tiles company and started producing ceramic tiles at Sagamu, Ogun State, thereby violating the company’s agreement.
While tracing the genesis of the crisis in the company, the MD further stated: “The current crisis started when two of our shareholders Mr. Zhang Kefeng and his sister, Mrs. Zhang Linshuang, went underground in 2022 and established a factory in Ogun State under another parallel company known as Nigeria Royal Castle Ceramics Company Limited and started producing ceramic tiles, the same product that Crown Ceramic Nigeria Limited produces. This was considered as a betrayal of trust and gross violation of the earlier agreement among Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited’s Shareholders and Directors.”
Mr Dongfeng added that Mr Kefeng, as a Director use to stand in for him (the MD) whenever he travelled out of the country, but he later started taking advantage of the position and diverted Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited’s imported materials and local raw materials to Nigeria Royal Castle Ceramics Company Limited — owned by Mr Zhang Kefeng and his sister, Mrs. Zhang Linshuang without the consent and permission of Managing Director and other shareholders of Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited.
“Whenever he was caught in the act, his excuse was that he borrowed those materials. It was also discovered that he was using Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited’s business ideas and trade secrets to produce the same design of tiles produced by Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited in his company.
He was also diverting Crown Ceramics Nigeria Limited’s distributors and trained staff to his company for patronage. Even his sister, Mrs. Zhang Linshuang converted the company’s money into her appointed account, unknown to the company, for her personal use”
What is more, Mr Zhang Kefeng and his son, Mr Zhang Dahui, used the name of our Company to defraud several Chinese nationals of huge sums of money, thereby tarnishing the good image of our company and bringing it to ridicule. The victims have been mounting serious pressure on the
The company’s management is to refund their money. Again, Mr Kefeng also held a series of nocturnal meetings with the other three shareholders aimed at removing the chairman and the managing director.
“They were working against the articles of association of the company. Sometimes they would issue a memo that they had removed the MD and appointed a new chairman.”
While further explaining how Kefeng had been spearheading the crisis in the company, the MD said: “In April this year (2025), the conspirators also invaded the company with a truckload of armed Chinese security agents known as Sheriff, thugs and unknown armed security personnel to take over the company. But the management of Crown Ceramics invited other policemen to restore order to the company.”
He also disclosed that it got to a point both parties petitioned the Special Investigation Unit ( SIU)of the Nigerian Police Headquarters in Abuja fct, and both parties were advised to make peace and resolve their issues amicably.
“A few days ago, one of them, a female shareholder–Mrs. Liao Yuzhen invaded the company’s premises with over 20 Chinese people, some unknown armed security personnel and local security personnel. But they were not allowed by Crown Ceramics security at the entrance gate to enter the premises due to the security threat that was posed.
The MD, however, stated that during the invasion by Mrs.Liao Yuzhen, nobody fought anybody.
“She was told that if she must go in, she could go alone, but going in with many people unknown to the company was not allowed, only for us to wake up a few days ago to read a report in the media that Mr. Zhang Kefeng and his team had accused the Inspector General of Police of sealing our factory and that he is siding me and my team,” Dongfeng said.
The MD also said that Kefeng and his team had taken the matter to a court in Abeokuta, while he and his group also took the matter to a court in Lagos.
He added that he remains the MD of the company and that he is in support of the matter being settled in court.
