1004 Estate Crisis: CDA Chairman alleges over N5bn maintenance money mismanaged

Mr Matthew Ibadin, Chairman, 1004 Estate Community Development Association (CDA), Lagos Island on Wednesday accused the estate’s Acting Chairperson, Mrs Lola Ademola and members of the Board of Trustees of financial mismanagement.

Ibadin told a news conference held in the estate that Ademola should account for over N5 billion meant for the management of the estate she has collected in six years while managing the affairs of the estate.

It was reported that Ademola had at news conference a week ago, called on President Muhammodu Buhari to deliver Home Owners Residents Association (HORA) from the hands of CSP Isa Lawal, Divisonal Police Officer (DPO), Bar Beach Police Station.

Ademola had alleged that Ibadin was using his position as the Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) and the cordial relationship he had with the DPO to abet crime in the estate.

Ibadin, however, said that her outcry was a spurious attempt to distract the public and evade accountability and the consequences of corrupt enrichment.

“Ademola’s outcry is a grand design to divert public attention from the main issues at stake.

“One of the issues is her refusal to honour police invitation over willful damage of my property and threat to life.

“This is also in addition to monumental cases of fraud and gross financial impropriety in the management of 1004 Estate in the past six years amounting to over N5 billion,” he said.

According to Ibadin, Ademola illegally arrogated powers of managing the estate, including financial matters to herself ably supported by the Board of Trustees who lack eligibility to act in that capacity.

He said that was why he wrote a petition to the House of Assembly to come and inspect the management of the estate so that Ademola and her cohorts would be held accountable for all monies collected.

“Since December 2015, each flat pays N650,000; when you multiply this with 1,074 flats in the estate it will amount to N698,100,000 annually.

“Now multiply this amount by the six years they have spent in office and you will get N4,188,600,000. There are a whole lot of other service charge bills unaccounted for.

“They also collect money for telecommunications, rents and adverts for the past five years to the tune of over N8 billion that cannot be accounted for,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Oluwatoyin Lawal, the former Deputy High Commissioner of Nigeria to the U.K., said that Ademola and her cohorts had been collecting money over the years without effecting proper maintenance on the estate.

“If you ask them for transparency with the money collected, they will start reigning insults and breathing down brimestone to cover their anomalies.

“The integrity of the buildings are questionable, we do not want to wake up one day to a building collapse in the estate, therefore, they should account for the money they have collected over the years,” he said.

Lawal said that HORA would resist any attempt by members of the estate’s BoT to become life time members of the board.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs Toke Awoyinka and some members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have visited the estate to inspect the management process in response to the petition.

Awoyinka said that the facilities had been inspected and a report would soon be written concerning the inspection.

“We cannot give a preliminary conclusion on the assessment now but we will soon release a report of our assessment.

“We represent 40 constituencies in Nigeria, therefore, we will submit our report to the larger House for discussion before a resolution is made,” she said.

Awoyinka said that 1004 was a multi-billion investment and therefore, needed to be managed well because it added value to the economy of Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.

“As a result of this the government will not let such an investment rot away, hence our intervention,” she said.

It was reported that neither Mrs Ademola or members of the BOT were present at the news conference.