Lagos home owner scams 200 house seekers

A dramatic scene was recorded at 22 Anuoluwapo Street, Ejigbo area of ​​Lagos State, after around 200 house seekers who paid various sums of money for accommodation discovered that they had been duped by the landlady of a one-story building, identified only as Kudirat.

Punch reported that Kudirat colluded with an agent, Tunde Nojeemdeen, to carry out the fraud, directing them to him when they inquired about the building.

However, upon arriving home on Saturday September 24, researchers discovered that the number of tenants exceeded the 14 available apartments.

Oluwakemi Sodiq, one of the victims, told the publication that the case was reported to Ejigbo police station and later transferred to the state criminal investigation department, Yaba. She also revealed that potential tenants were paying sums ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 naira.

Sodiq said;

“On September 24, I was at my brother’s wedding when they told me there was a commotion at home. On arriving here, many had been injured; the police even came and arrested people. All we want is justice; we need our money. We can’t take the pain anymore. As I speak to you, the wife of one of us has just given birth but he has nowhere to put the mother and child. They are currently staying with their pastor. It is our reality. We are homeless.

She however claimed that the SCID officers demanded 50,000 Naira from each of the victims. Sodiq added;

“When we made the report, Nojeemdeen was arrested. Later we went to SCID but the IPO told us to pay N50,000 each to write our statements. We refused to pay the money and went to see a deputy police commissioner, Lanre Bankole; he took pity on us and led us to the Deputy Commissioner of Police at SCID, who ordered the officers not to ask us for money.

“The ACP told us that he was not aware of the case. So far, we haven’t heard anything; all the agents working for the developer are nowhere to be found and have all turned off their phones.

Another victim, who identified himself as Prophet E. Sunday, said he later found out that Nojeemdeen had defrauded many other people in the past and SCID would cover it up.

Sunday said;

“When we found out we had been scammed, I called the developer but couldn’t reach them. I came to the building and found a fight had broken out between the tenants. J eventually inquired and found out that it had become a business for the developer; he likes to cheat people. He has another house on that same street that he is developing; people there complain too to have been cheated.

“I learned that when something like this happens he will rush to SCID and pay off the police and that’s how the case will die. It’s a job for him and the police keep covering it up In fact for this case, he was not arrested, he gave himself up to the police because he knows that once he arrives at the police station, he only has to pay the agents.

“Please we need the Lagos State Government to help us. As I speak to you, I am homeless; we are all homeless, the former places we stayed, we were chased away by our owners.

Many victims also claimed to have been driven from their former homes.

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the incident, said Nojeemdeem had been arrested.

Hundeyin said;

“He is currently in custody.