Landlord collects rent from unsuspecting 100 tenants

An Ebutte Metta Magis-trate Court in Lagos, Thursday, adjourned the case against a landlord, Alhaji Ishola Salawudeen, of 59, Oriola Street, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos State, who collected rent from over 100 unsuspecting tenants with the promise of giving them a flat in a new building he was erecting on his property.

It turned out that none of the persons, who paid for the said building, which was under construction, was given a flat and in some cases, more than four persons were given the keys to the same flat.

One of the victims, Mrs Ganiyat Bashoru, who was at the court  lamented that she had just done her introduction after paying N475,000 for a two-bedroom flat to Salawudeen, hoping to move into the new apartment with her husband.

Mrs Bashorun, who was in court for the hearing of the case, which could not come up as the magistrate was said to be on leave, said she had paid Salawudeen the said sum for 18 months.

She said Salawudeen had promised her and other prospective tenants to come for keys to the flat on July 16, and on getting there, she met others, who were also there to collect keys to their flat.

Bashorun said that the developer duped over 100 prospective tenants to the tune of N34.3 million.

According to her, “since the incident, it has not been easy for us because we have been squatting with family and friends and people have been running around for us.”

Meanwhile, the case was adjourned till November 6.


Vanguard