PRESS RELEASE
Gentlemen of the press,
About a week ago, last Thursday, 7 December, to be exact, at the presentation of the book “MY PARTICIPATIONS” by Bisi Akande, it was said that Bisi Akande stated in the book that I brought pressure on Bola Tinubu to build the house for me.
But since Bola Tinubu himself was present at the presentation, I expected him within a few days to refute such a malicious falsehood about me emanating from his Man Friday.
I hold this view because Bola Tinubu just some three years ago on the occasion of the presentation of my auto-biography “SAYING IT AS IT IS” said that for my incorruptibility and strength of character, he, Bola Tinubu, would not have been Governor of Lagos State in 1999.
What then could he be demanding from me after his two term governorship to make me pressurise him to build a house for me, when I did not get a naira from him before he became the governor?
There has been a lot of pressure on me not to react to Akande’s tantrums. He is a neophyte, a beneficiary of a struggle he never took part in. I have been urged to keep to the adage not to “Answer a fool less you reduce yourself to his level”, but there is also an adage that says, “Answer a fool less he thinks he is wise”.
A lot has been said in the press and the social media to demolish tantrums. But I owe a duty to myself and to put the record straight for posterity about the big lie that Bola Tinubu built my house in Lekki for me. I, therefore, deny categorically that my house at Lekki was built with my resources through the sale of 3 developed properties, loan from GTBank and the sale of undeveloped landed property given me by my late leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory.
The details are as follows:
1. A 4-bedroom duplex with 2 bedroom flat enclosed with 2 undeveloped plots at plot 4, block 14, Nuru Oniwo Street, Aguda Surulere, Lagos State. That is where I was living before moving to Lekki. The house was commissioned in 1972 by Obafemi Awolowo.
A wing of the duplex was once occupied by a staff of the security outfit then known as “special branch” headed then by the late M.D. Yussuf who later became Inspector General of Police when Olusegun Obasanjo was Head of State.
It was later occupied by one of the wives of Pius Akinyelure, who often visited his wife there in company of Bola Tinubu.
The gate of this property was forced open by Abacha security forces when NADECO was holding a sendoff party for American ambassador, Walter Carrington, in my house. I took the Federal Government to court for damages and I was awarded N1 million which has not been paid till today by the Federal Government. Olisa Agbakoba was my counsel.
The house was sold to St Baths Anglican Church, Aguda, Surulere.
2. Two storey building at Odedola Street, Surulere, Lagos State. I bought it through an Estate Agent by name Mr Shiwoniku who has relocated to UK. He has a brother who is a legal practitioner in Abuja.
The house was sold to a Ghanaian by name Mr Akappo. He is still alive and he lives in one of the flats in the building.
3. Four storey building with a warehouse on the ground floor and six flats on top. It was commissioned by Awolowo in 1977.
I inherited the plot of 45’X100’ from my mother, Salamotu Anomo-Adebanjo, who built a bungalow on it.
She bought the land when I was in primary school in 1940 from one Pa. Idowu Onitiri for £20, which she paid by installment of £10, £7, £3. His son Akanbi Onitiri, executed the conveyance for me without extra payment after showing him the purchase receipts from his father, when I was developing it in 1976. Akanbi Onitiri was the father of Sumbo Onitiri, a well known estate surveyor in Lagos.
The building was sold to a woman through an estate agent.
I then took a loan from GTBank to complete the house in Lekki where I am living now.
When the interest on the loan became unbearable, I was compelled to sell the undeveloped land given to me by Awolowo in Dide-Olu Estate in Maroko, Victoria Island. One Mr. Ade Otusanya a friend of my son, Femi Ayo-Adebanjo, bought the land.
The contractor who built my Lekki house is Engr. Hakeem Sulaiman, Senior Partner of Messrs HA Associates.
The Electrical and Mechanical Contractor is Engr. Tokunbo Oshokoya, Senior Partner of Messrs Oshea Projects.
The Architect is Mr. Deji Johnson
The Quantity Surveyor is the late T.B Adebayo.
The Lekki property, the house in my village, Isanya Ogbo, and 3 Bedroom flat in a town house, at Omorinre Street in Lekki are the properties I have in the whole world.
I, hereby, authorize the EFCC to verify the above facts.
It is alleged that Akande’s building at Ila-Orangun, which I understand is more than double in expanse of my house in Lekki and some other properties he has in Lagos and abroad were financed by Bola Tinubu. His house in Ibadan was also alleged to have been built by the contractor that built the secretariat in Osogbo, when he was the Governor of Osun State.
I, hereby, challenge Akande to clear the air by disclosing the source of financing these properties as I have done above.
Tinubu, the great philanthropist, should also disclose the source of his wealth with which he bankrolled the elections of APC in the Southwest and that of General Muhammad Buhari and his various properties in Lagos. He should also authorize the EFCC to verify such details as I have done above.
Thank you very much.
God bless Nigeria
AYO ADEBANJO
16/12/2021
