Property Developer Jailed 10 Years For Defrauding 133 Home Seekers

Ladipo Sanusi/

A property developer was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment today for defrauding 133 accommodation seekers in Lagos of N25million.

Chief Magistrate O. O. Olatunji at an Ebute Metta chief magistrate’s court convicted Alhaji Ayobami Oseni, after he pleaded guilty to 267 counts of conspiracy, obtaining under false pretences and stealing, levelled against him by the police.

The sentences are to run concurrently, taking effect from April 26, 2017, when the convict was remanded in prison custody following the revocation of his bail.

After convicting and sentencing the developer, Chief Magistrate Olatunji ordered the Lagos State Government, to sell the building and share the proceeds among the 133 victims of the fraud.

Before the conviction and sentence of the developer, Olatunji asked Oseni for an allocutus.

Responding, Oseni said: “Well, I plead for mercy from the court concerning the statement against me. I plead that the court should temper justice with mercy. I have learnt my lesson. I have been in detention for two years, 19 days. It will never occur again. I end my statement.”

The convict was arraigned by the Force Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (FCIID) on December 7, 2012.

He pleaded not guilty.

At the commencement of trial on February 27, 2013, prosecuting counsel, Abraham Fadipe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), told the court that Oseni was the developer of a one-storey building at 3, Church Close, Ajao Estate, Lagos.

He described the building as containing four mini flats and two self-contained apartments.

According to Fadipe, Oseni posed as a landlord and erected ‘To Let’ signs around Ajao Estate while the building was under construction.

He obtained rents, agency and agreement fees ranging from N160,000 to N300,000 totalling N25million from at least 133 accommodation seekers on the pretext that each of them would get an apartment in the building.

The prosecution called five witnesses, four of whom testified that when they arrived at the property to take possession, it was already occupied.

The prospective tenants wrote a petition to the Lagos State Real Estate Transaction Department (LASRETRAD), an agency of the Lagos State Ministry of Housing on November 26, 2012, which invited the police and held watching brief during the nearly six-year trial.

In the course of the trial, however, Oseni changed his counsel four times before deciding to represent himself. Afterwards, he changed his plea to guilty.

He denied being a fraudster and claimed that the building contained eight apartments, not six, but that it was “not normal” for 133 people to live in eight apartments.

When Fadipe asked him why he obtained money from so many people, Oseni said: “As a developer, one must not reject the money.”