A UK-based Nigerian widow, Kemi Ajayi, has accused Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, of forcefully taking a piece of land from her.
The said property is located in the Ejigbo area of Lagos state, where the Commissioner once governed as local government chairman.
Narrating her ordeal of Facebook, Kemi Ajayi, who lost her husband about five years ago, said, “You do not judge a book by its cover. The newly appointed Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy is a man with no integrity.
Kehinde Bamigbetan, Mr Commissioner for Information, did you tell Ambode that you stole my land? Did you remember to tell Nigerians that the land where you built your private house in Lagos belongs to me?
“So many prominent Nigerians have intervened in this matter, but you kept on assuring them that you will do something positive about it. You are too greedy and arrogant to keep to your promise because of your privileged office and influence.
“I hope you remember that the architect who built your house, Olaoye Stonecold Kunle, whom you sent to mediate on your behalf at the ministry, is still alive?
“You are a public servant and Commissioner for Information that lacks integrity and preys on vulnerable citizens.
“In order to be considered for election as chairman of Ejigbo Local Government, you needed to reside in that area, and the only way to fulfil that condition was to hijack my land, which was already fenced round, with two locked gates bearing my late mother’s initials.
“The Lord will fight my battle, Kehinde Bamigbetan, you sent your architect to make promises that you will refund my money, following your election as chairman, and that I should not talk to your opponents, but you failed to keep to your promise after the election.
“The Lord that I serve will fight for me. You will not rest in that house until you pay me my money or vacate my property, Kehinde.”
When asked if she had approached the appropriate quarters to lodge a complaint, the woman said, “You can contact his architect. Kehinde sent his architect to represent him at a mediation meeting held between us by the Ministry of Lands, after which his house was boarded up by officials of the ministry following my complaint in 2005.
“His architect is known as Olaoye Stonecold Kunle. Kehinde promised to pay me, but he changed his mind and asked me to go and collect a refund from Oba Abdulmoruf (Oba of Ejigbo), whom he paid for the land.
“He (Kehinde) is the one to collect a refund, because he bought the land more than a decade after me, and fraudulently secured a C of O that I have been waiting for decades for, and I have a receipt and ratification etc.
“How could you buy a land that is fenced off with gates, and you were warned by neighbours that the land belonged to someone in the UK? This shows how desperate politicians can be, unfortunately, we both have influential mutual friends but Kehinde is rather too greedy and arrogant to listen to advice.”
Continuing, the widow said, “Kehinde is lucky that I rarely visit Nigeria and he cheated me because I am a woman and a widow for that matter. When I complained and threatened to go to the press, he reported me to the Oba and I was threatened with voodoo. God will judge.”
On whether she has taken approached the court to reclaim the disputed land, the woman said, “I was discouraged when the lawyer that I hired in Nigeria allegedly took money for fuel from the Kabiyesi, when we went to complain at the palace.
“This was a lawyer I paid an initial deposit of 100 thousand naira. The bastard took a brown envelope from Abdulmorouf in my presence. I was flabbergasted and lost respect for the legal system in Nigeria. That actually discouraged me.
“The lawyer’s explanation was that he would settle it out of court and since I don’t reside in Nigeria, I had to leave.”
However, when the Commissioner was contacted by Sahara Weekly on his known GSM no. 0802304..61 via phone call and SMS, for his reaction on this matter, he neither responded nor replied the message.
But the woman’s story has been generating mixed reactions on social media, with some calling on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to look into the matter.
