Save us from Works Minister's illegal demolition of properties in Lagos, Diasporan investors cry to Tinubu

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Diasporan real estate investors and developers, under the umbrella of WinHomes Global Estate, are crying to the Federal Government for compensation over the illegal demolition of their estate at Okun Ajah, Lagos State.

WinHomes Global Estate, superintended by Engr. Stella Okengwu

, a professional real estate investor, who leads other diasporans to investors, spoke at a press conference, tagged ‘The Cry of Diasporan Real Estate Investors and Developers’, in Lagos on Wednesday.

Acting in concert with their partners, Engr. Femi Adekoya and Mr. Olawale Oluwa (Pelle Homes), the diasporan investors said their demolished estate is 80 percent completed and drew 70% subscribers diasporans via the WinHomes Investment Scheme Portal, purchasing property for both personal homes and investment purposes, thereby injecting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Nigeria.

Specifically, they recalled that, “On Thursday, 3rd of October, 2024, I was shocked to discover that HiTech had sent its staff to come and peg our property for demolition without prior notice. I went to brief Mr Femi Falana, SAN and he put a call through to the Minister of Works, on his honour promised Mr Femi Falana that he will come to Lagos the upper week to discuss the issues surrounding the pegging.

“To our astonishment on the 5th of October, 2024, the Ministry of Works officials, accompanied by military personnel and Lagos state Taskforce officials, stormed our site and demolished Win Homes property, and also assaulted our personnel on site. After which, they proceeded to remove essential building materials worth Hundreds of Millions claiming they had orders from above to do so.”

They said the isolated attack on their properties smacked of vendetta and raises the following questions:

1. Is the Federal Ministry of Works aware of the bribery and corruption allegations and deliberately ignored them?

2. Is this a case of retaliation for speaking out and doing what is right?

They said, “As Diasporan investors, we are not seeking financial compensation of any kind from the Government, but rather appeal to the President to mandate the Minister of Works to revert to the 2006 gazetted alignment as we made sure proper and detailed due diligence was done before this property was purchased.

“Take note that the minister publicly challenged Landmark on National Television claiming he lacked legal land titles. However, we possess necessary legal titles all of which were implemented when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos State.

“We are addressing the president because this issue stems from a specific faction of his ministry which is the ministry of works. If this continues, it would be wrongfully generalised as a problem with Lagos state,” they said.

They urged the President to make a prompt decision and also to hold his public officials accountable for the damages incurred.

They also want the President to instruct the public holders to cease this action which is the misuse of the President’s immunity as a shield for wrongdoings.

“We are also calling for an urgent senate committee on works to investigate the corruption allegations within the Federal ministry of works to ensure transparency and accountability in Nigeria investment landscape,” they stated.

According to them, the “actions of the Ministry of Works are deeply troubling and require immediate investigation and accountability by the Senate Committee on Works.

“Indeed, the way the Ministry of Works has embarked on the destruction to give way for the Lagos-Calabar Highway has been brazen, rash, and punitive. The minister has flouted all laws, degraded men and women, communities, and, above all, destroyed businesses most especially the demolition of Winhomes Estate investment, Several meetings held with him have portrayed him as a tyrannical minister.

“The Minister of Works Engr David Umahi did not consider the environmental impact of sighting a Coastal Road project through residential property investment around the Okun-Ajah Corridor before diverting it from the initial master plan/gazette of 2006.”

They said they would not stop on their campaign they “expose all of the falsehood and lay bare all the facts of the illegal coastal road alignment and diversion from the initial and authorized alignment of the 2006 gazette earmarked by the then Lagos state governor and now our President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

Engr. Stella Okengwu said, “As a true patriot and a Nigerian, I have never lost touch with my Nigerian roots. I am committed to progress, growth, and development in all areas and spectrum, economically, politically, and socially.

“I not only show this when I am back on Nigerian soil but demonstrate and attribute the value in Nigeria and also in America where I have other businesses including real estate.”

Consequently, she said they found it an easy choice to “answer the call by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu after his inauguration on May 29th, 2023, which he followed up on with various overseas travels in his insistent drive for Nigerians in the diaspora to come back home and join hands into the development of the country by investing in Nigeria.

“As a real estate investor, I, my partners, Engr. Femi Adekoya and Mr. Olawale Oluwa (Pelle Homes) knew we had to contribute and make our impact felt immediately.

“We collaborated to acquire a substantial tract of land to support our esteemed President’s economic agenda and proceed with its comprehensive development. Driven by our commitment to invest in Nigeria, we inspired our fellow diasporans to do the same.

“As diasporan investors, we could see the genuineness in the voice of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his eagerness to reshape the country from his inauguration as president and afterward during his visit to various overseas countries seeking investment and collaborations to revive our economy and jumpstart the country’s social and economic development. He no doubt took bold investment decisions, for example, merging the foreign exchange rates in the country, apart from other far-reaching policies of this administration.”

In particular, they said questioned about these allegations, the Controller of Works, Olukorede Keisha, stated that only the Minister could address them.

According to them, “Our goal is to attract 250 million US Dollars in repatriated investments through the Win Homes investment scheme portal. We are law-abiding citizens committed to the development and growth of the Nigerian economy as well as its social and political development through the creation of job opportunities for over 5000 Nigerian youths both skilled and unskilled via the real estate project powered by Win Homes Global Services Ltd.”

Winhomes insisted that they did “full due diligence and secured all necessary documents of their properties, including fulfilling requirements from Lagos state government. Our due diligence included confirming that the property has a certificate of occupancy issued by the Lagos state government for the Okun Ajah community. We proceeded to obtain the governor’s consent and clearance from the coastal road right of way which further confirms the validity of the title to the land. We crossed our T’s and dotted our I”s. I need to emphasize that securing these documents was not only challenging, but painstakingly involved a lot of effort including traveling to and fro America to Nigeria countless times and meeting with the heads of departments at the Lagos State Bureau of Lands, the Surveyor General’s office, and ministry of physical planning. In the end, the estate land was secured and its development continued in earnest after confirming the land was free from the proposed coastal road alignment.”

However, they are surprised that the actions of the Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, who did the “unimaginable by destroying the properties, investments, and sweat of Nigerians in the diaspora without prior notification, using the name of the president of Nigeria as leverage to cause pain, trauma, and depression to the people in the diaspora after securing all these titles. The Minister’s action has made a complete nonsense of the entire investment.”

The minister’s action, they said, “is not only destructive, but antithetical to President Tinubu’s foreign investment drive, thereby undermining the dream and goal of the office of the Chairman of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Dr. Abike Dabiri and Dr Mrs. Doris Uzoka-Anite, the Minister of Trade & Investment in Nigeria who have constantly encouraged Nigerians living in the diaspora to return home and invest in the country’s developmental and economic initiatives Mr. Predident.”

Engr. Okengwu said as an active member board of directors for the Africa Canada Global Trade and Investment in Nigeria, “we are constantly preaching to Nigerians in the diaspora to remember that Nigeria is all we’ve got and as such, we need to bring our investment back home.”

But painfully, she said the Minister has with his actions hampered efforts to convince Nigerians living in the diaspora to come back and invest in the country.

“The situation surrounding the demolition of WinHomes Estate is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the conduct of the Ministry of Works. I recently learnt of an allegation that Ocean Bay residents paid a substantial amount to the ministry officials to divert the coastal road, thus avoiding the demolition of their properties which violated the original alignment.

“I contacted the Minister to inform him of this, but he dismissed my concerns. Subsequently, news outlets reported allegations of bribery and corruption within the Ministry of Works.

“Furthermore, I brought to the Minister’s attention about 7 pending legal cases against the Ministry of Works around Okun Ajah. Despite this, he remained unresponsive,” she said.