In July 2023, Eric Otabil Addo, a Nigeria-based Ghanaian pastor, thought to buy a property in the Isheri-Idimu area of Lagos.

Addo’s ultimate plan was to build a church after all necessary transactions and documentations on the property had been completed.

With this in mind, he visited a Lagos-based law firm to seek help in the preparation of title documents for the property.

As the law firm was about preparing an engagement letter for the pastor, he was advised that due diligence be carried out on the property to ensure it had no ownership issues.

During the due diligence, the law firm discovered that one Hannah Ajayi, the person posing as its sole owner, was actually not its only owner.

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It was later discovered that the property in question belonged to Rev. Ufot Peter Iwud, Ajayi’s late father. After Rev. Iwud’s demise, Ajayi and her 10 other siblings became joint owners of the property.

Before Addo approached the law firm for the preparation of necessary documents, he had already paid Ajayi, who occupies the ninth position in the age hierarchy of Rev. Iwud’s 11 children; she had received N11million out of her N19 million asking price.

When it became clear that Ajayi was not the only owner of the property, luck smiled on the Ghanaian pastor as he was able to recover the N11 million he once paid.

However, that was not the end of the matter.

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POPERTY SOLD FOR N25 MILLION

Addo told FIJ he again reached out to the law firm after the agent, who had initially introduced him to the property, was able to locate seven out of Rev. Iwud’s 11 children.

“I then sent pictures and videos of the siblings where they were having a meeting with the family’s lawyer in his office to the law firm. They were seven in total,” said Addo.

“Hannah Ajayi, the lady who wanted to singlehandedly sell the land to me, happened to be the late reverend’s ninth child. The property belongs to all 11 children and not the lady alone.

“Prior to the sale, rent proceeds from the property were usually shared among the 11 children. Hannah Ajayi was not present at the meeting when it was agreed that I paid N25 million to the entire family for the property.

“At that point, I proceeded with the transaction and paid N25 million into the family’s lawyer’s account.”

Addo also told FIJ that he made the payment into the family lawyer’s account with the understanding he would be the one to share the money among Rev. Iwud’s 11 children.

“We proceeded with the transaction and did all the necessary documentations. The property in question is actually a church,” said Addo.

“When the occupants of the property got to know it had been sold, they pleaded with us to be given some time so that they could vacate and we, the new owners, could take possession.

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“The transaction was concluded in August 2023 and we waited for the tenants to leave in early November, 2023.”

Before Addo could take possession of the property, however, the matter again gave birth to a new plot twist as someone else had beaten him to it.

‘OMO ONILE TAKES OVER PROPERTY’

“All of a sudden, we began to hear that a certain omo onile had gone to the property in early November 2023, and had taken possession of it,” Addo told FIJ.

“He had actually started destroying the church property.

“It was later we discovered that Hannah Ajayi, the late reverend’s ninth child, had gone to sell the land to the omo onile. This was after I made he N25 million payment to her entire family.

“We then engaged the omo onile and his team, telling them how the land had been sold to us and how the ninth child’s portion of the sale proceed was still with their lawyer.

“However, all the avenues we explored to have a dialogue with the omo onile proved futile. He never honoured any invitation and also did not vacate the property.

“At a point, we decided to visit the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Alagbon, Lagos, to lodge a complaint.”

According to Addo, the police then invited the omo onile, the entire family and Ajayi for questioning, but the omo onile, whose name is Idris Balogun, did ignored the invitation.

Balogun is also popular known around the Isheri-Idimu area as Oluomo.

“Balogun sent his personal assistant any time he was invited by the police,” said Addo.

“When the police concluded their investigation, it was discovered that Ajayi, the ninth child, was on the wrong side of the law and, was subsequently charged to court.

“While the police charged the ninth child to court, Balogun was not.

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“Ajayi was also asked by the police if she intended to sell the property and share the proceeds with her siblings but she said no.

“She was then advised to join hands with her siblings so that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible, but she was adamant. She refused to do that.”

While the matter was being entertained in court, Balogun continued to pull down the property.

When the matter was reported at the nearest police station, so that a hold could be put on the demolition, Balogun did not budge.

While the matter was still ongoing at the Ebute Metta Magistrate Court, Lagos, the omo onile had pulled down the entire church building and had also started building a new structure on it.

A civil motion was later obtained and pasted on the property’s gate but Balogun and his workers still ignored it.

When pressure was mounted on Balogun to stop work at the site, he sought the help of some police officers at Area M who provided his workers with security and work continued.

“While the matter remained unresolved, my lawyer was sent a threat message stating that she would be killed.” said Addo.

“As a result, she lodged an official complaint at Alagbon. Oluomo has, however, refused to honour calls inviting him on the matter.

“The saddest part is that, even if a judgement is given by the court now, it would not be binding on Oluomo because he is not a defendant in the suit.”

‘WE HAVE OUR RECEIPTS’

Last week, FIJ phoned Tega Jibromah, Balogun’s personal assistant (PA) on the matter.

During the conversation, Jibromah was asked if his principal was aware that there was on ongoing court case on the property he was developing. The aide was also asked whether he knew the property had already been sold to Addo by the Iwud family before Ajayi decided to sell it to Balogun.

“I don’t know who gave you my number, but I know it must have emanated from those you are representing or standing in for,” Jibromah said.

“Whatever it is, the land in question is under Isheri-Olofin and based on the document bequeathed to my principal (Balogun), he has every right and authority to construct on that property. He is not in the country right now. He is in London.

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“What I am just trying to say is that the issue is one that started from Idimu upward like that (sic). And the person that has the document and everything (Hannah Ajayi) sent the document to us. So, it is an issue that we were interested in in terms of them (the Iwud family) making peace.

“As I am talking to you, I am a chief. If they are not ready to make peace within themselves, we have nothing; there is no reason we should suffer for their internal issues, that’s between them and the court (sic). It has nothing to do with us and our property that we paid for.

“We have our receipts, we have everything. They have no receipt to tender. We have everything to show that we bought the property and we are the rightful owners. That’s just it. Thank you very much.”

HOW AJAYI TOOK POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY DOCUMENT

In the course of its investigation, FIJ was able to obtain a July 2023 court affidavit sworn to by one Mary Odagi, Rev. Iwud’s eldest daughter.

Odagi stated in the affidavit that in 2021, she handed over the title document of the property to Ajayi for safe keeping.

It was also revealed in the document that in February 2023, Ajayi made a recorded statement at the police station in Idimu, Lagos, claiming that she had misplaced the title document. A police officer at the station was also said to have given a confirmation that she indeed had made the statement.

IPO: AJAYI WAS ABOUT TO GET ON THE RUN

When FIJ phoned, Kehinde Adeleye, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in charge of the case at SCIID, he was asked why the police only charged Ajayi to court and not Balogun as well.

“Well, the matter we charged Hannah Ajayi to court for is different from the one with Mr. Balogun (sic),” the IPO said.

“Hannah is the person who sold the property from the family (sic). In the petition that was brought to us, the petition was directly against Hannah Ajayi (sic).

“In the petition that was brought to us, there was no mention of Balogun in it. It was in the course of our investigation that we discovered that one Balogun had bought the property, and he was invited for questioning.

“He (Balogun), however, did not show up. He was always sending his representative. Since we could not afford to have the matter get delayed any longer, we had to charge Hannah (Ajayi) to court. We did this because we discovered she was about to be on the run.”

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FIJ then asked the IPO why the police did not make any attempt to go after Balogun after he had repeatedly ignored several invitations for questioning.

“We were even unable to get in touch with him (Balogun),” said the IPO.

“What we did was to advise the complainant, which is the church, to go to court and get an injunction on that property. This would prevent Balogun from having access to the property, not to talk of demolishing it. They are supposed to have gotten the injunction restraining Balogun from demolishing the property.

“Once Balogun demolishes the property, they can even sue him for malicious damage. That would be a fresh case on its own. Then, it will no longer be between the complainant and Hannah Ajayi, but also between the complainant and Idris Balogun.

“As it is, the complainant has the rights to sue Balogun for malicious damage of property.”

THE IPO’S CLAIM AND THE FACTS ON GROUND

Contrary to Adeleye’s claim, however, a petition that had first been written by Mrs. Mercy Otabil, the Ghanaian pastor’s wife, on December 5, 2023, had the name Alhaji Oluomo on it as an accused party.

Information gathered by FIJ showed that the only person known to be bearing the nameOluomo in the Isher-Idimu area is Balogun.

Could the police have deliberately made the pastor’s wife state Ahaji oluomo, instead of Idris Balogun, in the petition so that it could be later used as a tool for not charging him to court?

Another question that deserves an answer is: if the police felt it was premature and unnecessary to go after Balogun on the matter, why has Jibromah, Balogun’s PA, appeared at the SCIID for questioning more than four times?

A source, who asked not be named, confirmed to FIJ that Jibromah had also, on more than three occasions, visited the SCIID in the company of Ajayi, as a show of solidarity. What exactly is Jibromah’s interest in all this if indeed his principal does not have any case to answer?

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HANNAH AJAYI

Last week, FIJ placed phone calls to Ajayi’s two numbers for a reaction to the allegation of singlehandedly selling the family’s property, but she did not answer them. The text and WhatsApp messages sent to the numbers had also not been responded to at press time.

As of Monday, Balogun had completely pulled down the old church structure on the land, and had erected what looked like a block of shops on it.

‘OLUOMO KAFATA’ BALOGUN, APC ASPIRANT, FRIEND OF THE POLICE

Idris Balogun, popularly known as Oluomo Kafata, is a well-known political figure in the Alimosho area of Lagos State.

He is also a royal prince of Isheri in the Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

In 2023, he was a Federal House of Representatives aspirant who contested for the Alimosho Federal Constituency seat on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).

When Balogun lost at the primary level to Ganiyu Adele Ayuba, who is the current member representing Alimosho in the green chamber of the National Assembly, his over 3,000 supporters threatened to defect to another party over what they termed “a seeming injustice that was done to their aspirant during the party primaries”.

He is also a friend of the police. His PA Tega Jibromah is often seen celebrating senior policemen on his social media platforms.