86 rooms where tenants paid N250,000 a year found under Lagos bridge. Photo Credit: Google
Gbenga Oluwafemi, purportedly the landlord and alleged leader of the suspected gang renting out 86 apartments under Dolphin Estate Bridge, Ikoyi, has refuted claims of receiving N250,000 per annum as rent.
In a video posted by News Central on its X handle late Sunday, Oluwafemi, also known as “Mopol,” stated that there’s no estate chairman in Dolphin Estate who wouldn’t recognise him.
In a telephone conversation with the agency, Mopol said, “No estate chairman in Dolphin Estate that will say he did not know me.
“Even there are some people in power here in Lagos State that live there that know me. They knew us very well.
“The demolished blue container there this morning had been there for about 15 years now.
“The previous government did it for us there. The person who did the container Festus Keyamo was passing by and asked us what we were doing there and our survival.
“We said we are security to the street lights here. He also asked how we cope when it is raining. It was then he promised us that he would look into it and that was when the container was constructed.”
He, however, denied collecting money from anyone as rent contrary to some residents’ claims and the evidence of payments seen.
“I have never refunded any money to anybody. I don’t think I’ve… If I am collecting N250,000 from anybody I will not be in that place again,” he said.
Arrest effort
The Lagos State Government had on Saturday disclosed that it had intensified its efforts to arrest suspected gang leaders who rented out the 86 apartments.
Meanwhile, a resident who simply identified himself as Sola in the five minutes and seventeen seconds video – named one man called “Mopol” as his landlord who collected N250,000 from him.
Another resident, Johnson Kenneth, noted that he had just made a N50,000 deposit before the government moved in.
Also, a December 2022 receipt with “OLUWAFEMI” as the letterhead and phone number, being payment for N150,000 for a room was retrieved from one of the residents.
KAI chief wades in
Earlier in the video, the Commander, Kick Against Indiscipline in Lagos State, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (retd.) described the act on the government facility as nothing but a “sabotage.”
“All the sands put under the bridge for a kind of protection were excavated and they started putting structures. It was about 86 rooms.
“You can imagine someone removing sand meant for protection to a facility, a bridge, and erecting a structure there to collect money from the people. That is sabotage,” Cole said.
Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, last Wednesday said the government discovered 86 partitioned rooms, sized 10×10 and 12×10, under the bridge.
