Revealed: Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited obtained two Development Permits for 34 sites

A powerful cabal made up of influential Nigerians are believed to be behind the scam that led to the collapse of the building owned by Lekki Gardens in Lagos.
Investigations revealed that Messrs’ Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, owners of the collapsed building in Lekki that killed 35 people, has taken the art of flouting government building controls and regulations to another unacceptable level.
It would be recalled that Lekki Worldwide Estate came into the limelight a few years back with its Lekki Gardens Signature Houses when it started building relatively affordable houses to the Nigerian Middle Class.
In a short while, the Lekki Gardens Brand became the toast of the property market.
However, the company was alleged to have been cutting corners in the use of substandard materials, as well as failing to obtain state approved Development Permits.
Investigations also revealed that the company currently has 34 active building sites in Eti-Osa, Ikeja G.R.A, Ikoyi/Victoria Island and Banana Island but shockingly has only obtained development permit for two out of the 34 sites. The question that is being asked is: how did this relatively young company get away with this impunity?
As a punitive measure for dereliction of duty, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, fired some top officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency on grounds of negligence. He also set up a committee to investigate the building control and regulatory regime in the South-West state.
Though records available at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that Mr. Richard Nyong, a native of Akwa Ibom State, is the owner of the company that is reputed to be worth billions of naira, it is, however, generally believed that the real owner is former Governor Godswill Akpabio.
Akpabio, the Senate Minority Leader, has denied ownership of the company.
It is also believed that the company has built a huge coterie of consultants ranging from retired and serving senior police officers, Judges, top politicians (including an Island-based Lagos State House of Assembly member with interest in building and construction), retired and serving civil servants and other influential members of the society to assist in flouting government building regulations and controls.
Nyong and his contractor, one Henry Odofin, were recently arrested by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and remanded in custody for 30 days by an Ebute-Metta Magistrate Court to enable the police conduct investigations into the circumstances leading to the building collapse.
However in a curious twist, investigations have revealed that the company may have paid its consultants about N50 million in two tranches of N30 million and N20 million to ensure that Nyong was released from police custody before the expiration of the 30-day remand period stipulated by the Magistrate Court.
The Magistrate, who was recently redeployed by the State Judiciary, has also been fingered in the plot to ensure that Nyong was freed from custody.
Sources within the Lagos State Government said they were not unaware of the huge resources available to the company but vowed that government would not be deterred in pursuing those behind these acts that have caused the loss of lives of innocent Lagosians.
The source insisted that the State Government investigations have so far shown that most of the structures were built with substandard materials and in flagrant disregard of Town Planning Laws and Regulations.