What caught the attention of Patience Yusuff, a Lagos-based school cleaner, in September 2020 when Adron Homes and Properties Limited marketed some plots of land was the affordability.

She was on her way to Mile 12 market on that fateful Friday when one of the marketers affiliated with the real estate company gave her a flyer for a land sales promo.

For N750,000, she would get a plot of land at Town Park and Gardens Estate, Phase 1 Extension, Imota, Ikorodu. She did not hesitate to pay that same day: September 4, 2020.

“I felt it was cheap; I did not even bother to go to the market. I went back home to gather money. I even collected money from my daughter,” Yusuff told FIJ.

“After paying and getting a receipt, they gave me some documents stating that I had paid fully.”

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Yusuff never imagined she would encounter any problems with Adron Homes and Properties Limited. The real estate company had promised to contact her as soon as land allocation began.

No one reached out to her.

After one, two and three years had passed without a word from Adron Homes, Yusuff reached out to Abimbola Toru Adejola, the marketer who gave her the flyer.

“But she no longer worked there. She then directed me to the Ogudu branch of the company. I also went to their Mile 12 office where I met Olayemi Otitolaye, the branch manager,” she disclosed.

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“They told me that the person I bought the land from did not explain that it was not available yet and that I would not get the land instantly. They said that clients are typically notified once there is land available for allocation.”

FIJ reached out to the marketer who advertised the land promo to Yusuff in November, and she claimed that she had told Yusuff at the point of payment that she could not ascertain when allocation would happen.

“I told her that the package that came with instant allocation was slightly higher than the one she paid for,” the marketer disclosed.

For Yusuff, the excuses given by the company were too ridiculous to accept. She wondered why she had not heard from them four years after making her payment. Hearing these excuses from Adron Homes, her first thought was: Why would a company deliberately mislead its customers and why should allocation take this long?

As if the excuses were not enough, the company said it had some plots of land for allocation in another location. But Yusuff would need to add at least N250,000 to her previous N750,000.

She refused.

“They said they did not have the allocation for the land I paid for, but the one they have is over N1 million. I told them I didn’t have that amount, and that what I paid for was N750,000,” Yusuff explained.

2023 came and went by without land allocation for Yusuff. Then one day in 2024, she put a call across to the branch manager Otitolaye.

“I told him I was not even interested in the land anymore and that they should refund my money,” she said.

“When I asked him how much the land would be worth, he said it’s N4.3 million in their promo because they are still doing promo. He then told me that instead of selling for N4.3 million, I could sell for N3 million so I could easily get a buyer and not be delayed.”

Yusuff thought it was a fair deal. After all, she paid N750,000 in 2020 and would make millions on the plot of land.

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However, she was shocked when Otitolaye told her she would be the one to find the buyer. “I asked him if I am bringing a buyer, which land will I show them? That was when he said they would look for the buyer instead,” Yusuff said.

Since November 2024 when FIJ first spoke with Yusuff, Adron Homes and Properties Limited found no buyer for the land she paid for in 2020.

She later indicated interest in getting a refund as she could no longer bank on the company to get a buyer for the land.

When FIJ spoke with the branch manager on November 6, he said Adron Homes was willing to refund the woman’s money but a commission of about 30 per cent would be deducted from the N750,000.

“Also, she would have to wait for 90 days from the day she fills a refund form for the company to process the payment,” Otitolaye noted.

When FIJ’s relayed the manager’s message to Yusuff, she agreed with the conditions. She went to the Mile 12 branch on November 14 to fill out the refund form. She also wrote a letter on the same day, requesting her money.

It’s been more than 90 days since Yusuff submitted the refund form and letter, yet Adron Homes has refused to refund her money.

If weekends are included, 90 days from November 14 would be February 12. And 90 working days starting from that time would end in March.

While speaking with FIJ in April, Yusuff said the assistant to the branch manager at the Mile 12 office of Adron Homes keeps telling her the money is still being processed.

When she reached out in March, the assistant named Gloria said, “Please, bear with us, ma. Your request is still under processing.”

Yusuff got a similar response on March 25 and April 2. Weeks later, the story is the same.

The woman reached out to Gloria again on Tuesday morning, and she said, “Once it is out, I will let you know.”