33 Tenants Pay 6 Million Naira For Five Rooms In Ajegunle

I'm sure by now you are already wondering if Ajegunle house are that expensive to rent. O well, not really.

About 33 prospec­tive tenants scrambled to take possession of five mini flats that they all paid for in No 2 Ojumola street, Ajegunle, Lagos. Trouble started when some of the tenants who had since paid for the mini flats when they were under construction realised that they were not the only ones on the waiting list.

The fraudulent property developer, Abdulateef Ibrahim allegedly collected rents totalling N6 million from 33 prospective tenants instead of five and thereafter disappeared.

According to reports, some of the tenants quickly moved in their things while other bought several padlocks and locked any room within reach.The owner of the house, Alhaja Hafisat Ojumola, who claimed that she was not aware of the transaction, alerted the police when she discovered that the tenants battling to take possession of the apartments must have been de­frauded by her contractor, Ibrahim.

The fraudulent contractor was however traced to Abeokuta, Ogun State and by operatives of Special Anti- Robbery Squad, Lagos police command, Ikeja.

Ali Mu­dashiru, one of the sons of the owner of the house told Saturday Sun that....


“The house was getting bad and all the tenants were asked to pack out. We do not have money to hire the ser­vices of developers, so we called our in-law, Ibrahim to as­sist since he is a builder. That was in June 2014. We knew that he builds houses for people. We agreed and gave him N450,000 to renovate the house.

“Sincerely, he gave account of every kobo that was spent by him. That was why, when he came back that we should bring another N500,000 I obliged him. He also spent that one but this time round did not give full account. My mother, Alhaja Hafisat Ojumola asked him to stop, when he
came back again requesting for money. No one knew that he had gone ahead to put the house for rent."


“Two weeks after he was asked to stop, he came back and said that he had got money to continue the project. He said that the N500,000 extra that he borrowed will be enough to complete the house. We wanted the house to be put up for rent and was happy when he said that he had got money and would soon finish the project.

“We were shocked when tenants started coming to the house claiming that Ibrahim collected money from them. It got worse when they started fighting over who owns what. My mother could not bear the shame because it will ap­pear that we conspired with Ibrahim. We tried to reach him but he switched off his phone. We knew that if nothing is done, these desperate tenants will tear down the house. We reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police and they tracked him down. As we speak, there are people living in the house forcefully.”

“We had hoped to rent it out one day, so we did not see anything wrong in allowing prospective tenants to come and have a look. How can anyone do business with a developer without asking for the true owner of the house? It is unfortunate and we thank God that he was caught after collecting about N6million from people.”

The fraudulent suspect 42-year-old Ibrahim, who pleaded for mercy said:

“I am willing to pay back the money if I am given at least three months. Please, do not expose me to the world."

“The money they brought was not enough, so I had to borrow money. The area is swampy and the cost of reno­vating the house was not easy. I spoke to some agents that came to check the house. Normally, if a house is cheap, a lot of persons will indicate interest. In that area, apartments go for as much as N150,000 for two rooms. To woo people, I told the agents to tell their clients that the house will go for N100,000. There was a mad rush and I had no choice but to collect as much as I could. It was the devil that took over and before I knew what was happening, I had collect­ed about N6million from people. To tell you that it was the devil, I do not have a dime in my account. I cannot point at anything that I used the remaining money to do. If you go to my compound at No 4 Bello street, in Orile Iganmu, you will discover that I live in a room. I did not even use the money for my life. I am an Islamic cleric and I have prayed for a lot of people and granted them healing. Because I do not want to be dependent on the money from the mosque, I decided to learn a handiwork. I am terribly sorry. Please, forgive me.”

DSP Kenneth Nwosu has however confirmed that the suspect will soon be charged to court.