Owners of Winhomes Estate in the Okun Ajah area of Lagos State, Sunday, urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene in what it described as the illegal deviation from the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road alignment and selective demolition by the Ministry of Works.
The estate owners, in a statement by Dr Olubokun-Basorun, Engr. Femi Adekoya, Dr Arinze Onwumelu and Dr Kimberly Stark urged the President to call the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi to order over an alleged injustice against their members who invested in Winhomes Estate in Okun Ajah.
The letter reads: “We are constrained but compelled to write this open letter to you and bring to your notice an injustice perpetuated by the Federal Ministry of Works to our members who invested in Winhomes Estate Okun Ajah just for being law-abiding citizens.
“Winhomes Global Services Ltd is a real estate development company established to empower investors in Nigeria and those in the diaspora to invest in properties and build their Dream homes in Nigeria, with over 500 stakeholders living in different parts of the world. We remain steadfast in supporting the success of your administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which focuses on economic growth, lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, and fostering an enabling environment for investment and growth.”
“As a result, over 70% of subscribers and stakeholders who are diasporans invested in the WinHomes Investment Scheme Portal, purchasing property for both personal homes and investment purposes, thereby injecting Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, into Nigeria. Our goal is to attract over $250 million in repatriated investments. They are law-abiding citizens committed to the development and growth of the Nigerian economy as well as its social and economic development through the creation of job opportunities for over 5,000 Nigerian youths, both skilled and unskilled via this real estate project.
“They embarked on full due diligence and secured all necessary documents. The exercise of due diligence included confirming that the property has the certificate of occupancy issued by the Lagos State Government to the Okun Ajah community.
“We were taken aback when without notice, officials of the Ministry of Works did the unimaginable by destroying the properties in an isolated attack on the investments and sweat of Nigerians in the diaspora without any form of engagement or legal notification. The situation surrounding the demolition of WinHomes Estate is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the conduct of the Ministry of Works.
“The actions of the Ministry of Works are deeply troubling and require immediate investigation and accountability by relevant authorities. The recent panel setup authorized by the Presidency for the Ministry of Environment to investigate the environmental impact assessment of the new diversion by the Ministry of Works faulted the diversion of the coastal road around Okun Ajah as it did not take into consideration expert opinions and the ecological aspect which could mitigate the community from the current erosion.
“As a diasporan organisation, we humbly seek your intervention because the lawbreakers cannot be spared at the expense of law-abiding citizens of Nigeria.”
