Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of
Lagos state, has revoked the
allocation of over25 plots of land by
his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola,
in his final days in office.
TheCable understands that the
expansive land at Lekki Phase One
had been allocated to the Lagos State Water Corporation in 1998 by the then military administrator of the
state, Mohamed Marwa, while the
certificate of occupancy was signed
by Bola Tinubu, former governor of
the state, in 2006.
However, Hakeem Muri-Okunola,
who was the permanent secretary of
the Lagos state ministry of lands
under Fashola, had reportedly
informed the former governor that
the land was “available”.
The land was officially parcelled into
25plots and shared by Fashola who
went on to sign the certificates of
occupancy on May 26, three days to
his exit from office.
The new allottees were curiously
issued the old Cs of O, which had
been phased out by Fashola and
replaced with electronic certificates.
Most of the plots, it is alleged, were
allocated to Fashola’s relatives, aides and associates — including Yewande Animashaun, his cousin who also served as his special adviser on public health, and Wale Ahmed, who served ashis commissioner for special duties.
A female newscaster with a Lagos-
based TV station was one of the
beneficiaries, TheCable learnt.
Meanwhile, TheCable understands
that Muri-Okunola did not disclose
the actual number of available plots
to Fashola and was said to have kept several plots for himself, out of
which three were allocated to
Adeyemi Isiba, then general manager of New Towns Development Authority (NTDA), against government regulation.
Nobody is allowed to buy more than
one plot in a government scheme but the three plots were registered in
Isiba’s name.
He has now been removed as GM of
NTDA following a series of findings
on the activities of theagency under
his watch.
As soon as Ambode assumed office,
officials of the water corporation
wrote to him to complain that the
land belongs to the agency and that
the original C of O was still valid as
it was not voided by Fashola before
the reallocation.
Ambode, TheCable was informed,
immediately launched an
investigation, only to discover that
Muri-Okunola had kept some plots
for himself with the hope of getting
the new governor to sign off on the
Cs of O.Muri-Okunola was
immediately sacked by Ambode, but
he was prevailed upon by prominent
power brokers in Lagos to redeploy
the son of the late Muri Okunola, a
former justice reputed for his integrity.
Ambode later decided to redeploy
the 42-year-old Muri-Okunola to the
ministry of youth as permanent
secretary and the ownership of the
landhas been reverted to water
corporation.
Both Muri-Okunola and Isiba did not
respond to text messages sent by
TheCable on the Lekki land affair.
Fashola has been in the public eye in recent times following revelations
that he awarded a N78 million contract to set up a website in his
name.
Punch also reported on Monday that
Fashola approved N138 million for
the sinking of two boreholes at the
Lagos House, Ikeja — according to
information sourced from the
website of the Lagos State Public
Procurement Agency.
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