N65.5m Lagos land mess: Omolara Akintonde didn’t issue receipts, says businessman

David Timilehin, a real estate businessman, says Omolara Akintonde, a businesswoman, did not issue payment receipts or a deed of assignment for the controversial N65.5 million land he bought from her in Lagos state.

TheCable had reported how Timilehin accused Marcus Tibetan, a prophet of the Celestial Church of Christ, of collecting N65.5 million from him to procure land belonging to Akintonde near the recently inaugurated Dangote refinery in Lagos state.

Timilehin said, in 2022, Tibetan, his spiritual father, informed him of the availability of two hectares of land (30 plots) supposedly in Ketu, Epe area of the state, belonging to Akintonde. Timilehin said he paid the N65.5 million cost of the land to the prophet to be transferred to Akintonde.

But a year after, Timilehin said he was not allocated the land; neither did he get a receipt of payment nor any documentation of the land. Instead, he has been involved in a back-and-forth conversation with the prophet and Akintonde.

Timilehin said he also discovered the land is not anywhere close to the Dangote refinery, adding that the land belongs to the Lagos state government and is not meant for private use. He then requested a refund, saying he was no longer interested in the deal.

Despite evidence of bank transfers to Tibetan, the prophet, in an interview with TheCable, denied receiving money from Timilehin. Akintonde also insisted she had no business with Timilehin, saying it was the prophet who collected money from him.

Timilehin has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the controversial land deal.

Akintonde also told TheCable that the allegation of fraud against her was false, claiming she issued a valid receipt for the transaction. She added that Timilehin will be refunded nevertheless.

TIMILEHIN: LET AKINTONDE PROVIDE SIGNED DOCUMENTARY PROOF OF LAND DEAL

Speaking to TheCable, Timilehin said Akintonde does not have proof that there were receipts or signed deeds of assignment on the land transaction.

“Please, ask her to send proof of documents given to me showing my signature. A deed of payment was given to me to be signed after the payment was made, but it was a blank document, and my name was wrongly spelt,” Timilehin told TheCable.

“They wrote 18 plots instead of two hectares, as shown on the breakdown of payment sent above. Thirdly, the document authentication has dashes, and they claimed they’d take it to Alausa after I signed. Part of their suspicious act. I complained about the number of plots written, and the prophet told me it would be corrected to 30 plots, and he claimed not even an inch would be deducted. He said they’d just take out the sheet with my signature and attach it to the corrected document, and that was all. No receipt of payment, no deed of payment.

“She said the land is two acres instead of two hectares. She also claimed she told me several times to go inspect the land, which was all blatant lying. I was the one disturbing the said prophets for inspection, and he always said he wanted to get some security officials to escort me. He said this throughout the year until I contacted the woman myself to go inspect it without the prophet’s knowledge, which got him so furious, and there I found out he lied to me about the land’s location.

“There’s nothing like any elders in talk. I’m not involved with the said elders because no elder was there when they took money from me.”