Society Gists

Fraudulent dealings with customers by real estate firms appear to be on the rise. Just like how Bamidele Onalaja and his wife, Tolulope of Revolution Plus property allegedly duped customers of their hard earned money, another real estate firm, Landwey Investment Limited owned by Olawale Ayilara has been accused of fraud by a Nigerian based in the United Arab Emirates.

The entrepreneur revealed that he was made mouth-watering offers, which were convincing enough for him to lure him into making an initial deposit of N5 million for a property in June 2020. Later, he paid another sum of N37 million. After this, Ayilara told him  that his choice building was no longer available, but he promised to give the customer another house in the Ogombo area of Lagos where the company had many properties.

In November 2020, the client was asked to wait for three months as the house had not been completed. He added another three months just to give the company enough time to finish the building. By then, he had traveled from Dubai to Nigeria. He called Ayilara in the first half of 2021 to ask why he was yet to be given the key to his house, but was told to be patient. However, by the second half of the year, Ayilara had stopped answering his calls.

Much later, when he was able to reach him, the company promised to refund 30 per cent of his money despite the fact that he had made full payment for the house. But they also failed to refund the 30 percent as well. He added that all efforts to reach Ayilara failed. However, THEWILL investigation shows that Ayilara has allegedly embarked upon an image laundering drive, with a narrative to better position his company.