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Who is behind Paradise Estate, Abuja?

Published

3 years ago

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Continuation of  https://www.societyreporters.com/richard-nyongs-lekki-gardens-linked-to-n9-9m-fraud-allegation-in-estate-deal/

 

The Paradise Estate, Abuja, is a brainchild of the Lekki Gardens, a frontline real estate firm based in Lagos, Nigeria.

In August 2015, when it berthed in Abuja, the vision was to deliver about 100, 000 housing units by 2018 and one million by 2023. It is not certain if this goal has been achieved.

The LinkedIn Page of Blessing Nyong-Essien shows that she is the MD of the Paradise Estate. owned by Life Camp Paradise Estate. She is also a signatory to the company’s account.

An attempt to establish the actual owners and shareholders of the Life Camp Paradise Estate, showed that the company has been inconsistent with its name.

For instance, the name found on Aishat’s payment document – The Life Camp Paradise Limited – was different from the name – The Paradise Abuja found on the letterhead containing the official allocation of a unit of the three-bedroom duplex to the complainant.

The name, Paradise Estate Limited, was subjected to public search and it showed a firm registered at 15, Erie Street, Off Sakonba road, Benin City, on June 26, 2002, with registration number 455426. It has only two directors, Arigbe Ebuwa and Ibude Osazee.

A similar search was conducted on The Life Camp Paradise Limited. The findings showed it was registered on May 6, 2016, with two persons – Imeh Christiana Amida and Stella-Marie Omogbai – as directors of the company as well as the shareholders.

Amida, in 2015, as the Chief Operating Officer of Lekki Gardens announced the launch of the Paradise Estate located in Abuja.

She said, “The Paradise is a new lifestyle community conceived to provide Abuja’s growing upwardly mobile middle class the rare privilege of owning choice homes at extremely low prices just like we have done in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Amida further explained that the new project was necessitated by the demand for the Lekki Gardens debut project – Games Paradise –, which sold out barely one month after it was launched, The Guardian reported.

Findings based on information gathered from multiple sources showed the Lekki Gardens Estate Limited referenced by Amida is owned by multiple directors – which includes Richard Nyong, Olusola Nyong, Hon. Gbenga O., Engr. Kemi A. and Christiana Amida M.

Richard in an interview with City People, a lifestyle platform was described as “the chairman of The Paradise, Abuja”.

Nyong-Essien manages the Paradise Estate introduced in Abuja in 2015 and there is a likelihood that the three persons are related based on our findings.

Richard is linked to five other firms – Lekki Springs Limited, Get Too Rich Investment Limited, Lekki Gardens Facility Management Limited, Lekki Gardens Emporium Limited, and Lekki Gardens Horizons Limited.

His fellow director, Olusola, has interests in about seven others. They include Get Too Rich Investment Limited, Lekki Gardens Facility Management Limited, Lekki Gardens Emporium Limited, Lekki Gardens Horizons Limited, Lekki Palms Limited, Lekki Springs Limited, Lekki Gardens Horizon Limited, and Lekki Gardens Estate limited.

Paradise Estate firm reacts

When contacted, Paradise Estate’s client service officer, who had done repeated mail exchanges with the aggrieved couple, Eniola Olaoye, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to her phone number.

Nyong-Essien, the authorised signatory in the entire deal, neither answered nor returned calls. This reporter further sent a text message but there was no response.

When a call was put through to her second line, a lady identified as Tosin answered but terminated it when she heard the questions. This reporter later called back but she advised The ICIR to visit the office.

Tosin, who later introduced herself as a personal assistant to Nyong-Essien, was asked to book an appointment since her MD had gone incommunicado. She was briefed about the purpose of the meeting, including the allegation that the firm was fraudulent. But she has not responded to date.

Meanwhile, Aisha Ahmed, the account officer that earlier introduced Aishat Balogun to the Paradise Estate, simply attributed the situation to ‘force majeure.’

Force majeure in business is a situation where a force of nature or unforeseen circumstances prevent someone or a party from fulfilling his or her part of an agreement. It is usually a clause mostly embedded in contract agreements.

“Her house is ready,” Ahmed stated when asked when the property would be handed over.

“It is just for them to work on the infrastructure. In fact, an email has been sent to her and other affected persons.”

This reporter reminded her that despite repeated emails previously sent to the subscribers including Balogun, the company still reneged on its agreements.

She was also reminded of the need to provide a more specific date this time. But she placed the call on hold and never picked up until the reporter terminated it. Subsequent calls were ignored.

Aisosa S. Sunny-Ekos is the head of Legal Services Department in Lekki Gardens. His official email is aisosa@lekkigardens.com. He also spoke officially with respect to the controversial property meant to be delivered by the Paradise Estate, Abuja. He also faulted Ahmed’s earlier claim of force majeure when The ICIR spoke with him on a phone call on Wednesday, March 17.

“That is not true,” he said.

Meanwhile, earlier, on Thursday On March 11, 2021, the lawyer replied to the email trail reaffirming the organisation’s commitment to delivering the building through his official email aisosa@lekkigardens.com.

“Yes, I am in copy of the email trail and I believe that the commitment of our client’s service team shall be duly complied with,” he wrote in part.

“We appreciate your patience thus far in this transaction and yet appeal for some more patience to enable us to conclude on the pending infrastructure works.”

But more than a year after the response, the aggrieved couple was yet to get their building delivered.

The email trail links Paradise Estate to Lekki Gardens – much like it is being fully managed by Lekki Gardens company.

Aishat Balogun also confirmed to this newspaper about a meeting held with Nyong-Essien in October 2019.

“I met with Richard personally at Karimo Estate close to ours and, he assured me Blessing (Nyong-Essien) was capable,” she added.

He confirmed the deal, describing it as a peculiar case. But, he would not provide further detailed information.

“I am conversant with her transaction. The letter from her lawyer is currently on my table. She subscribed for a three-bedroom,” he told this reporter, but he could not still establish exactly when the house would be delivered. This was after about one hour of back and forth conversation in an attempt to verify the claims and exact owners of the firm.

Finally, on Saturday, March 19, the complainant reached out to The ICIR to announce the estate had eventually agreed to refund the money (N9.9 million paid for the structure). But this time, the firm contacted the husband, Zakari.

The email, with the subject ’90 days paradise refund’ had an attachment of a refund application form.

The form’s content read with five conditions, among which was that the “refund repayment timeline is over a 90-day period.” Besides, it added, “interest is not payable on a refund.”

But the family kicked. “It’s so unfair collecting N9.9m after 40 months,” Balogun frowned.

“I want a property or the current value of the said property as of today. That is our position.”

(The ICIR)

Also, the provisional allocation signed by Nyong-Essien and Motunrayo Oloruntoba was on behalf of Paradise Estate Limited, this is also a different name from that of the letterhead.

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Oniru confers chieftaincy titles on Smith, Idowu, Olorunnimbe, Akintoye others

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1 hour ago

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January 20, 2025

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The Oniru of Iru-land, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] has announced the conferment of honourary chieftaincy titles on eminent and distinguished citizens of Nigeria.

 

The revered monarch unveiled the shortlist of recipients as part of activities to mark the fifth anniversary of his peaceful reign on the revered throne.

 

Among the esteemed honourees are Iya Oba of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Basira Titilayo Smith, Aare Majeobaje of Iru Kingdom – Chief Adeyemi Idowu, Aare So’ludero ofIru Kingdom- Chief Muyiwa Gbadegesin, Ph.D and Erelu Asa of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Bolane Austen-Peters, Aare Fiwagboye of Iru Kingdom – Chief Lukman Olayiwola Mustapha, Asoju Oba of Iru Kingdom- Chief Idris Ibikunle Olorunnimbe and Ajiroba ofIru-Kingdom- Chief Adegboyega Hakeem Akintoye.

 

While extending congratulations to the distinguished honourees on behalf of His Majesty and the Oniru-in-Council, High Chief Abayomi Daramola, Balogun of Iru-Land, in a statement revealed that the conferment of titles will be performed on 14th June, 2025 at the palace (Aafin Oba Oniru), Victoria Island, Lagos.

 

The statement read in part, “to mark the fifth-year anniversary of his ascension to the revered throne of his forebears as the 15th Oniru of Iru-land and after a rigorous selection process, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] – The Oniru of Iru-land upon the recommendation of the Oniru-in-Council, has issued a Royal Decree approving the conferment of respective honouray Chieftaincy titles on the underlisted eminent and distinguished citizens.”

 

 

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Society

‘Not My Property’ – Ex-Petroleum Minister, Diezani Exposes Owner Of Recovered $52.8 Million Loot

Published

14 hours ago

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January 20, 2025

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Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has clarified that she is not connected to the $52.5 million that was recently brought back to the country from the United States of America (USA).

Society Reporters recalls that the federal government on Friday, January 10, announced the receipt of $52.88 million in recovered Galactica assets linked to the former Minister of Petroleum.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, announced the recovery during a formal signing ceremony of the asset return agreement in Abuja.

Fagbemi explained that $50 million of the recovered funds would be channelled through the World Bank for the development of rural electrification projects.

The remaining $2.88 million, he added, would be allocated to the International Institute of Justice to enhance the justice system and support anti-corruption initiatives.

However, in a statement issued on Sunday, Diezani, who has been residing in the United Kingdom (UK) since departing from Nigeria, asserted that the funds associated with her in the media as illicit gains actually belonged to Nigeria’s oil entrepreneur, Kola Aluko.

Finally responding to the alleged recovery through her attorney, Mike Ozekhome SAN, Diezani maintained that the term “Diezani Loot” is unfounded, as she had no involvement in the circumstances surrounding the forfeiture of the funds by its rightful owner.

Expressing her stance, the former minister stated that the $52.5 million originated from a vessel that was confiscated by the American authorities from Kola Aluko, which was subsequently sold, with the proceeds returned to the Nigerian federal government.

Her disavowal of ownership over the funds was detailed in an extensive press release issued on Sunday by the Chambers of Mike Ozekhome SAN, titled “There is no such thing as Diezani Loot.”

The statement reads: “My chambers makes this intervention in the public domain as Solicitors to Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM) ,the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, HMPR.

“As her Solicitors, we are fully versed in and conversant with her present ordeal and the entire facts surrounding her matters both here in Nigeria and abroad. So, we write from the vantage position of one that is aware of the cocktail of lies that have been spurned around her cases in the last ten years.

“Many of the narratives are outrightly false; some others sheer outlandish speculations; and most, simply bizzare stories cooked up by her traducers to extract a Shylock’s pound of flesh from her for reasons she does not know and cannot even fathom.

“This intervention therefore seeks to correct this skewed narrative and set the records straight for purposes of history. Many Nigerians often talk about wanting ‘technocrats’ to be involved in governance. They desire that people with character and integrity should join politics.

“We agree with them. However and regrettably too, now and again and many a time, the same people not only allow, but actually join the bandwagon to mob-lynch those who chose to serve the nation.

“And we often do this insidiously, covertly and overtly, even when there is no concrete or even any iota of proof that such public officers ever abused their offices or stole from public coffers.

“It is therefore surprising and of great concern to us, to see the level of sustained vilification of an innocent Nigerian citizen who has not yet been tried and found guilty of any offence known to law by any court of law whether in Nigeria or abroad. The person at the receiving end is Citizen Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM).”

Mischievous And Cruel
The statement from Ozekhome’s office described the earlier claims about the asset recovery as misinformation and defaming.

It said: “We note with concern the recent deliberate attempt to link her with what has been described as a civil forfeiture of a yacht Galactica, the sale of which was said to have yielded $52.8m to the US government; which sum has since been repatriated to Nigeria.

This is a clear example of the mischievous and cruel sport of tarnishing the image of the lady through a bouquet of consistent, persistent and unrelenting cocktail of falsehoods and misinformation.

“The purveyors of this line of misinformation term it “name-and-shame”. To sell the storyline, the architects ensured they attached Diezani’s name to a recovered yacht which is not in any way linked to her.

“They now falsely termed it “Diezani loot”. Nothing of the sort ever happened. She was never involved in the purchase, use and sale of the said yacht.

“The yacht Galactica, from information readily available in the public domain and in open sources, was purchased by Mr Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America.

“The yacht Galactica was neither owned nor ever used by our client. DAM has in fact never set her eyes on the yacht. Kola Aluko is an experienced businessman who had been in business well before DAM came into office as HMPR.

“The only tenuous basis for deliberately linking DAM to the said yacht is the false narrative that the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) which were entered into between Kola Aluko & Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy companies and NNPC, were allegedly corruptly awarded to the said companies by DAM. DAM was not the GMD of the NNPC as so did not and could not have awarded the said contracts.

“We plead, as her lawyers, with all and sundry that she be accorded fair hearing and that the process of these UK court proceedings be allowed to take their natural course to avoid prejudice to her in the ongoing subjudice UK proceedings against her.

”Those purveyors and peddlers who habitually spin these outrightly false, unfounded, defamatory, unintelligent and indefensible narratives to denigrate and humiliate her should please find better use of their time and leave DAM alone.

“Let the law take its natural course without interference. We humbly pray.”

 

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Society

Bisi Onasanya, ex FirstBank MD flees Nigeria to Ghana as EFCC closes in……

Published

2 days ago

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January 18, 2025

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Bisi Onasanya, the embattled former Managing Director of FirstBank has followed in the steps of Oba Otudeko, the former chairman of FBN Holdings and fled the country.
Onasanya who is expected to appear at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday January 20 to answer to the charges brought against him by anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, may likely be absent in court as he is currently holed up in Ghana in hiding.

He was spotted at Movenpick Hotel in Accra where he checked in at exactly 8 am on Friday morning.

Society Reporters had earlier reported that Onasanya will be arraigned before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke for looting over N12.3 billion.

He will be arraigned alongside Otudeko, also the chairman of Honeywell Group who is equally on the run, as well as two others, a former board member of Honeywell Group, Soji Akintayo and a firm, Anchorage Leisure Limited connected to Otudeko.

The quartet committed fraud in tranches of N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.150 billion, N1.5 billion and N500 million, N6.2 billion and N2.09 billion between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos.

The 13-count charge, filed by EFCC counsel Bilikisu Buhari on January 16, 2025, further claimed that the defendants made and uttered forged documents to deceive the bank.

Specifically, count 1 accused the defendants of conspiring “to obtain the sum of N12.3 billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V-TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED and Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In Count 2, it was alleged that the defendants, on or about the 26th day of November 2013 in Lagos, “obtained the sum of N5.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED which representation you know to be false.”

The 3rd count claimed that the defendants, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, obtained N6.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for and disbursed to Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In the 4th count, they were accused of conspiring to spend the N6,15 billion, out of the monies.

According to the Commission, the offences contravened Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and are punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

Counts 5 and 6 read: “That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about 11th day of December 2013 in Lagos, procured Honeywell Flour Mills Plc to retain the sum of N1,5 Billion, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c), 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

The Street Journal

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