Society Gists

The listening governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, must hear this very nauseating and unpalatable story, if indeed it is true, about how one of the members of his cabinet, Kehinde Bamigbetan, allegedly unduly ‘stole’ the plot of land of a hapless UK-based widow, Kemi Ajayi, in Ejigbo and built his own house there, with impunity and ‘who can challenge me attitude,’ typical of men in-power.The listening governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, must hear this very nauseating and unpalatable story, if indeed it is true, about how one of the members of his cabinet, Kehinde Bamigbetan, allegedly unduly ‘stole’ the plot of land of a hapless UK-based widow, Kemi Ajayi, in Ejigbo and built his own house there, with impunity and ‘who can challenge me attitude,’ typical of men in-power.
According to the bitter revelation made on Facebook, by the sad woman, Kemi Ajayi, who lost her husband, Akinyele Oluseyi, five years ago, she is now downcast and helpless, as all her efforts to recover her rightful property from the former Chairman of Ejigbo Local Government and now Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan, have come to naught, and there seems to be no help coming from anywhere, except providence and long hand of the law prevail. In her tacit and very unambiguous words and strong posers, the now very inconsolable widow, Kemi Ajayi wrote on Facebook: ‘You do not judge a book by its cover. The newly-appointed Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy is a man with no integrity. Kehinde Bamigbetan, Mr. Commissioner for information, did you tell Ambode that you stole my land? Did you remember to tell Nigerians that the land where you built your private house in Lagos belongs to me? So many prominent Nigerians have intervened in this matter, but you kept on assuring them that you will do something positive about it, but you are too greedy and arrogant to keep to your promise, because of your privileged office and influence. Hope you remember that the architect who built your house, Olaoye Stonecold Kunle, whom you sent to mediate on your behalf at the ministry, is still alive? You are a public servant and Commissioner for information that lacks integrity and preys on vulnerable citizens. In order to be considered for election as chairman of Ejigbo Local Government, you needed to reside in that area, and the only way to fulfil that condition was to hijack my land, which was already fenced round, with two locked gates bearing my late mother’s initials. The Lord will fight my battle, Kehinde Bamigbetan. You sent your architect to make promises that you will refund my money, following your election as chairman, and that I should not talk to your opponents, but you failed to keep to your promise after the election. The Lord that I serve will fight for me. You will not rest in that house until you pay me my money or vacate my property, Kehinde.’ Her story was so confounding and very pitiable that she was prodded by a concerned friend that she should have done the needful by going to the appropriate authorities to lodge a complaint, if indeed she had a very strong and legally-backed case all these years, but she responded thus: ‘You can contact his architect. Kehinde sent his architect to represent him at a mediation meeting held between us by the Ministry of Lands, after which his house was boarded up by officials of the ministry following my complaint in 2005. His architect is known as Olaoye Stonecold Kunle. Kehinde promised to pay me, but he changed his mind and asked me to go and collect a refund from Oba Abdulmoruf, whom he paid for the land. He is the one to collect a refund, because he bought the land more than a decade after me, and fraudulently secured a C of O that I have been waiting for decades for, and I have a receipt and ratification etc. How could you buy a land that is fenced off with gates, and you were warned by neighbours that the land belonged to someone in the UK? This shows how desperate politicians can be, unfortunately, we both have influential mutual friends but Kehinde is rather too greedy and arrogant to listen to advice.’ The obviously cheated widow by a heartless Bamigbetan in the name of his office as a local government boss, further reiterated in one of the expositions of how she was threatened with voodoo. ’Kehinde is lucky that I rarely visit Nigeria and he cheated me because I am a woman and a widow for that matter. When I complained and threatened to go to the press, he reported me to the Oba and I was threatened with voodoo. God will judge.’ Again, when she was asked why she hasn’t taken the legal route, she retorted, ‘I was discouraged when the lawyer that I hired in Nigeria allegedly took money for fuel from the Kabiyesi, when we went to complain at the palace. This was a lawyer I paid an initial deposit of 100 thousand naira. The bastard took a brown envelope from Abdulmorouf in my presence. I was flabbergasted and lost respect for the legal system in Nigeria. That actually discouraged me. The lawyer’s explanation was that he would settle it out of court and since I don’t reside in Nigeria, I had to leave.’ When the commissioner was contacted on his known GSM no. 0802304..61 via phone call and SMS, for his reaction on this matter, he neither responded nor replied the message.

If Commissioner Kehinde Bamigbetan has not in anyway, since the story broke out in the social media, reacted to this damning and damaging reputation on his person and as a top government official in the administration of a seemingly reputable of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, then something needs to be done fast by the working and performing governor to redress the situation or at least set the records straight, before one of his cabinet members splashes mud and aspersion on the good name and reputation he has been building in the mind of people begin to wane, and by extension rubbish all the good works he has done since he came on board barely three years ago. Kehinde Bamigbetan, a journalist by training before he came into government through politics, who knows, may have done similar thing to some defenseless people, and Kemi Ajayi’s case, if found to be true, may now be his albatross. Having been in the corridors of power for years now, the last of which was as Special Adviser on Community and Communication to the same Gov. Ambode, he may even have perpetrated even worse atrocities and illegalities than the one in hand, and the earlier it is looked into, the better for the government of Lagos state and its governor, whose reputation may be at stake here, due to one reckless and blatant abuse of office by one of his top officials, an executive council member for that matter. A widow has enough to contend with already, and an addition to her grief and loss of a husband really leaves much to be desired.