Follow Us on Google
By Dickson Okafor
A businessman, Chief Sunny Okeke, has been in anguish and pain since August 4, last year, when a team of staff from the Ogun Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) besieged the site of his ongoing project located in the Igbesa area of the Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State and demolished it.
Okeke’s seeming misfortune began when he bought two plots of land from Oke Alapa Family in the said area and then commenced erecting structures on the land.
However, unknown to him the plots fell within the area under acquisition by OPIC. Upon making this discovery, he quickly reached out to OPIC on January 28, 2021, during which he was advised to apply to the Managing Director of OPIC for ratification of the acquisition and for him to pay the appropriate fees.
With this glimmer of hope, Okeke told Sunday Sun that he promptly applied for the ratification and paid the sum of N30,000 for the processing of his application.
His words: “I purchased the land from the Oke Alapa family, but later discovered the land is part of an acquisition area of OPIC. I reached out to OPIC through one of their agents and I was told to pay for ratification. I paid N30,000 for registration.
“While the process was ongoing, I was told that I would pay N1 million for each of the two plots, which would then be properly allocated to me and I would pay the balance for the land at a later date.”
Buoyed by the seeming positive outcome from the discussions, Okeke said he paid the sum N2 million through a bank draft issued in favour of OPIC on January 15, 2023.
After he made the payment, a team of staff of OPIC came to the site of the project in an official bus of the corporation, accompanied by his agent, Mr Ademola Omotosho, for the inspection of the land.
From the blues, the matter took a heart-rending turn when on August 4, last year, another set of OPIC officials allegedly descended on the construction site and demolished the two buildings he erected on the land.
The demolition exercise shocked him to the marrows and threw him into agony.
“To my surprise, I received a call in August that some persons who were officials of OPIC had come to demolish my building despite the ongoing ratification process. I have made efforts to get them to find a solution to this, but they seem not to be ready to act on it. I have been in psychological pain and agony. This experience has filled my mouth with ash. To say the the least I am gnashing my teeth,” he lamented.
After several visits and other efforts for a just, fair and equitable resolution of the issues did not yield results, Okeke said he then engaged a law firm, Airadion & Airadion, which wrote a petition on his behalf, addressed to OPIC’s Managing Director, to demand for N50 million compensation, which he described as the assesed value of the two buildings demolished at the time.
Other News
Since the petition was received by OPIC, it has been a dingdong affair talking with representatives of OPIC.
With no apparent headway in the quest to secure a fair resolution of the matter with OPIC, Okeke said he has been left with no choice than to make a public appeal to the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, in the hope that he would show humaneness in the matter and in keeping with the letter and spirit of the revived 1960 National Anthem that espouses that “though tribe and tongue may differ, but in brotherhood we stand.”
He also said that the “unfair and unjust treatment I received at the hands of OPIC personnel” was clearly contrary to the strident call by the Ogun State Government on Nigerians from all walks of life to invest in both residential and commercial real estate projects in the state.
Okeke said that it was in patriotic response to this call that he invested the hard earned money he saved through the years in the two building projects allegedly demolished in a callous and malicious manner by personnel of OPIC while the ratification process was still in progress.
Okere said: “It became imperative for me to call on Governor Dapo Abiodun and the state government to demand compensation for the total cost of two buildings which were illegally demolished by OPIC. I petitioned OPIC and demanded N50 million compensation over the demolition. They agreed to pay the money, but up till now they have not fulfilled the promise they made to me.
“Since they have been dilly-dallying over this matter, the value of the compensation has also gone up because of the realities of today.
“All the attempts made by me to be compensated by OPIC have not yielded results. That is why I have to appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun and draw his attention to the matter and demand N100 million compensation from the state government, to enable me to reconstruct my houses that were demolished by OPIC.
“This incident has become a daunting challenge, a sad situation and a bitter experience for me and my
entire family. I am appealing to the governor to give my petition a just, fair and equitable consideration that demonstrates natural justice and wears a human face.”
When Sunday Sun reporter visited the office of OPIC, to speak with the Public Relations Manager, the lady at the reception after listening to the reason for the request to meet with the said official denied him entry, saying that he should first write a letter to that effect.
However, a call made to a number (0815 045 8798) on the website of OPIC was received by the Marketing Director, Mr Boye, who after listening to what Okeke narrated to Sunday Sun in explaining his ordeal, said that the businessman needed to provide evidence of the letter written to him by OPIC to affirm the ratification agreement upon which he paid the said amount of N2 million, the photocopy of the draft as well as the names of the alleged officials of OPIC involved in the whole transaction.
His words: “Did he approach the management or an individual in OPIC. Which one? Because Management refers to several people with designations and responsibilities. When he said that he approached the Management of OPIC, that may not be totally true. We need to know the name of the person that told him to pay N2 million. Again, did he receive any letter from OPIC?”
To this, the reporter informed him that Okeke’s lawyer wrote on his behalf to the OPIC Managing Director. It was in response to that letter that he was asked to pay N1 million for each of the plots, which he paid to the company through a bank draft in favour of OPIC.
Boye then said: “Does he have a letter that was written to him from OPIC to pay the sum of N2 million? He should provide a letter from OPIC, which will show the name of the person that signed it. We have to get all those things. That is when I can help you.”
When the response of Mr Boye was related to Okeke, he said: “Oga, OPIC does not grant all these documents to a buyer especially this one that had issue before ratification by OPIC.
“Most of the lands sold by OPIC have similar issues because some of the staff cause these problems for innocent people. I just want the government to be fair, just and treat my appeal with a human face and reassure other prospective investors interested in putting their money in Ogun State real estate investments.”
