‘Tinubu didn’t build my Lekki house… I took loan’ — Ayo Adebanjo denies Akande’s allegation

Ayo Adebanjo, acting leader of Afenifere, has denied the allegation that his house in Lekki was built for him by Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun, had in his recently released autobiography — ‘My Participations’ — claimed that Adebanjo coerced Tinubu to build the house for him.

But reacting to the claim in a statement on Thursday, Adebanjo said he expected Tinubu to have refuted the “malicious falsehood about me emanating from his Man Friday” since he was at the book launch.

The Afenifere leader said he built the Lekki house with his resources and loan from GTBank.

He said: “I hold this view because Bola Tinubu just some 3 years ago on the occasion of the presentation of my auto-biography ‘SAYING IT AS IT IS’ that for my incorruptibility and strength of character he Bola Tinubu would not have been Governor of Lagos State in 1999. What then could he be demanding from me after his two-term governorship to make me pressurize him to build a house for me when I did not get a naira from him before he became the governor?”

“I, therefore, deny categorically that my house at Lekki was built with my resources through the sale of 3 developed properties, loan from GTBank, and the sale of undeveloped landed property given me by my late leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory.

“The details are as follows: A 4 bedroom duplex with a 2 bedroom flat enclosed with 2 undeveloped plots at plot 4, block 14, Nuru Oniwo Street, Aguda Surulere, Lagos State, this is where I was living before moving to Lekki.

“A wing of the duplex was once occupied by a staff of the security outfit then known as “special branch” headed then by the late Alhaji M.D. Yussuf who later became Inspector General of Police when General Olusegun Obasanjo was the Head of State. It was later occupied by one of the wives Chief Pius Akinyelure, who often visit his wife there in the company of Senator Bola Tinubu.

“I inherited the plot of 45’X100’ from my mother Salamotu Anomo-Adebanjo, who built a bungalow on it. The building was sold to a woman through an estate agent. I then took a loan from GTBank to complete the house in Lekki where I am living now.

“The Lekki property, the house in my village, Isanya Ogbo, and 3 Bedroom flat in a townhouse, at Omorinre Street in Lekki are the properties I have in the whole world. I hereby authorize the EFCC to verify the above facts.”

“AKANDE, TINUBU SHOULD DISCLOSE THEIR SOURCE OF WEALTH”

Adebanjo went on to say there is a claim that Akande’s building at Ila-Orogun and some other properties in Lagos and abroad were financed by Tinubu.

“His house in Ibadan was also alleged to have been built by the contractor that built the secretariat in Oshogbo when he was the Governor of Osun State,” he added.

“I hereby challenge Chief Bisi Akande to clear the air by disclosing the source of financing these properties as I have done above.

“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the great philanthropist should also disclose the source of his wealth with which he bankrolled the elections of APC in the Southwest and that of General Muhammad Buhari and his various properties in Lagos. He should also authorize the EFCC to verify such details as I have done above.”