Press Statement By Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Leader Of Afenifere, In Response To The Allegation Made By Chief Bisi Akande In His Book, “MY PARTICIPATIONS” To The Effect That Chief Bola Tinubu Built My House In Lekki For Me, On Thursday, December 16, 2021…
At My House, Plot 25, Ayo Adebanjo Close, Off Adebayo Doherty Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State.
Tinubu and Adebanjo
Gentlemen of the press,
About a week ago, last
Thursday, 7 December, to be exact, at the presentation of the book My
Participations by Chief Bisi
Akande, it was said that Chief 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 expect 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 autobiography, Saying It As It Is, said that but 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 pressurize 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 Chief
Bisi 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 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:
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, this is where I was living before moving to Lekki.
The house was commissioned in 1972 by Chief 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 Alhaji
M.D. Yussuf who later became Inspector General of Police when General Olusegun
Obasanjo was the Head of State.
It was later occupied by one of the wives of Chief Pius Akinyelure,
who often visited his wife there in company of Senator 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 #1million naira which has not been paid till today by the Federal
Government. Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, was my counsel.
The house was sold to St Baths Aglican Church, Aguda, Surulere.
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.
Four storey building with a warehouse on the ground floor and six flats on top.
It was commissioned by Chief 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 is 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 Chief 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 Otunba T.B Adebayo.
The Lekki property, the house in my village, Isanya Ogbo, and a 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 Chief Bisi Akande’s building at Ila-Orogun, 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 Oshogbo, when he was the Governor of Osun State.
I hereby challenge Chief Bisi Akande to clear the air by
disclosing the source of financing these properties as I have done above.
Asiwaju Bola 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.
CHIEF AYO ADEBANJO
16/12/2021
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