CITIZENS COMPASS –The landlord that allegedly let out 86 apartments under Dolphin Estate Bridge, Ikoyi, Lagos State, Gbenga Oluwafemi, popularly known as Mopol has disclosed that the containerised structure was erected about 15 years ago.
He claimed o be well known by residents of Dolphin Estate including their leaders. and his major assignment was to secure the street lights in the area.
Gbenga claimed that the structure was erected by the popular lawyer, Fetus Keyamo to secure street lights in the area.
Disclosing this in a video posted by News Central on its X handle late Sunday, he debunked claims that occupants living under the bridge were paying rental fees of N250,000 per annum sayin “No estate chairman in Dolphin Estate 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.”
“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.
In the video, a resident, Johnson Kenneth, noted that he had just made a N50,000 deposit before the government moved in.
Another resident simply identified as Sola referred to “Mopol” as his landlord who collected N250,000 from him.
During the demolition, 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.
Earlier, the Commander, of The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) populaly known as Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), 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 the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, last Wednesday said the government discovered 86 partitioned rooms, sized 10×10 and 12×10, under the bridge.
