Former impeached Deputy Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Funmi
Tejuoso, seems ready for a face-off with the Lagos State and the LSHA
over a property she has stayed since her days as Deputy Speaker.
The property at 3 Sasegbon Street, Ikeja GRA, is the bone of contention and she has been sent packing from the said property.
Following its decision to implement a far-reaching report on the sale
of under-valued assets allegedly sold illegally, the Lagos state
government is set to seize such properties and prosecute defaulters.
The report is said to contain a list of over 100 properties, the names of their buyers and the locations of the assets.
Sources disclosed that the report was arrived at after extensive
lasting several months by a panel of inquiry set up in late 2016 by
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to “investigate the sale of its assets in
prime areas running into billions of Naira”.
It was reliably gathered that due to the sensitivity of the issue,
the government decided to investigate the sale of its assets because
they were sold below market value.
It was learnt that assets were disposed at abysmal (or give-away)
prices and obviously against public interest, which stoked the interest
of the present administration to investigate and review the process by
which the assets were sold.
Sources further disclosed that what eventually culminated in the
resolve of the State government to investigate the sale of its assets
was overriding public interest, lamenting that some of these assets
“were sold as low as N20 million.”
One of the assets in contention is the official quarter of the Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
One of the assets in contention is a two-wing of a five bedroom
semi-detached house located at 3 Sasegbon Street, Ikeja GRA. The
property which is valued at hundreds of millions of Naira was in 2010
offered to Honourable Funmi Tejuosho, through her company, Debam Mega
Solutions Limited, for a sum far less than half of the value.
But seven years after the offer, barely half of the offered sum has been paid to the State Government coffers by the company.
Sources, who were privy to the circumstances under which Tejuosho came
about “colonizing” the property, disclosed that it was actually assigned
to her in her capacity as the deputy-speaker of the Lagos State House
of Assembly.
However, Tejuosho was impeached as deputy speaker and was expected to
vacate the premises which she refused to do. Rather than vacate the
property, Tejuosho offered to buy the house and the then Speaker,
Ikuforiji and former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, jointly raised an
objection, saying emphatically that an official quarter of Deputy
Speaker could not be sold to her.
Also, Tejuosho was reported to have ignored several letters sent to
her to vacate the property for another deputy speaker. Instead, she
headed to the High court to prove sale of the property to her company.
Sources disclosed that Tejuosho tried every means to retain the house
as she had done unlawfully for the past seven years using litigation.
Unfortunately, she made a slip in her case which necessitated it being
struck out.
It was gathered that the government simply took advantage before she
re-filed or have same relisted to eject her as the matter is no longer
in court. The source described Tejuosho as a trespasser in the property.
She is not a tenant as she has not been paying any rents on the
property. Neither is she a licencee as she has no licence from the
owners of the property to occupy same.
It is pertinent to add that the property at 3 Sasegbon Street, Ikeja
GRA, is an official residence of the Deputy Speaker. The deputy speaker
that succeeded Tejuosho was deprived of the property as well as the
current deputy speaker, Wasiu Eshinlokun.
Sources revealed that the Lagos State House of Assembly, where Tejuosho
currently serves as a member, eventually took the decision to eject her
and not Governor Ambode, as it is being erroneously peddled in some
quarters.
Source: The ElitesNG