Those desperately seeking for accommodation in Lagos may have to look before they leap, as the case of 129 victims who were allegedly duped by Alhaji Abdullahi Ayo Bani Oseni 47 is a bitter lesson.

The SUPREME learnt that Oseni who claimed to be a civil engineer was a scavenger and lived at 13 Oluwagbe Street, Bariga, Lagos, over-night became a land developer in 2001. For being smarter than his shadows to get rich quickly, he is currently being detained by detectives at State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba of the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly defrauding 129 people of N25.905million for an accommodation meant for only six people. The apartment situated at number three Church Close Ajao Estate, Lagos, is made up of four mini flats and two rooms self contained.

 Looking smart and intelligent, Oseni told The SUPREME on Wednesday November 28, 2012 at the SCID where he is being interrogated why he obtained money from 129 victims, in spite of the fact that he knew the apartments can only occupy six tenants. His words: “I knew the apartments can occupy only six tenants, and I knew that the number of people I collected money from had exceeded the number that can occupy the apartments, but I have to collect money from so many of them to enable me complete the building. You know if you don’t have collateral, no bank can give you loan.”

He claimed that he intended to refund money to those who deposited part payment in December, after completing the building. He claimed that, he approached a land speculator one Mr. Tajudeen Atanda who allegedly leased the deck-down property to him for 10 years, to build and occupy. He added that he started decking of the house about March 2012 with an initial cost of N500,000 he obtained from the victims.

The suspected fraudster told The SUPREME that the original land owner one Alhaji Obe Ore from Kwara State who he said is late, leased the land to Atanda

Defending his “fraudulent” action, Oseni who hails from Ajashipo in Ifelodun Local Government area of Kwara State, said, “nobody can envisage when a building can be completed. So any one who brought money I collected to enable me finish building the house. Some of the victims gave me part-payment. Some deposited N120,000 but cost of the rent is N250,000. If a would-be tenant brings N120,000 and I needed N80,000 immediately to complete part of the building what stopped me from collecting the money when the bank will not give me loan?” he queried

He claimed to have spent N18million to complete the building and that “the remaining N7.905million can be regarded as miscellaneous expenses.”And for the N25.905 he allegedly obtained from the victims, he said he gave Atanda only N250,000 as his commission.

Like a jail bird, The SUPREME learnt that he had frequently constructed a three-room apartment at Ilaje outskirt of Lagos in 2001, with his cohorts. But the building was confiscated from him after the original land owners with proof of ownership surfaced.

Police source told The SUPREME that on November 18, when he was arrested, 68 of the victims surrounded him at Ajao Estate ready to lynch him, but for the traditional ruler of the area whose names were not immediately known who called in the police to rescue him. He was on Monday November 26, 2012 transferred to SCID Panti for further investigations.

At SCID Panti yesterday, over 124 victims with placards such as: “We want our money”, “Alhaji Oseni is a fraudster” etc, besiege the premises.

Meanwhile, Governor Fashola of Lagos State is said to have vowed to send Ayo Oseni to prison. Fashola is very stringent with shylock landlords and land speculators, some of who make life difficult for Lagos residents, either by crazy rent bills or outright defrauding of accommodation seekers.

A top official of the Legal/Enforcement Department of Lagos State Real Estate Transaction under the Ministry of Housing, who pleaded anonymity, told The SUPREME at SCID Panti that “the governor is very angry with people like Ayo Oseni and he has given instructions that they should not be left off the hook.”

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