The Senior Pastor of Christ International Church, Baden, Switzerland, Osoko Solomon, has asked the Lagos State Government to give him the two-bedroomed bungalow he paid for more than 21 years ago.
Solomon told our correspondent on the telephone that he had endured frustrations as efforts to get his house had proved abortive.
Our correspondent learnt that the 52-year-old had paid N353,500 to the state government on August 9, 1995, for the bungalow in the Lekki Jubilee Housing Scheme.
He was said to have been issued all the necessary documents before he travelled to Switzerland, and had asked his relatives to monitor the project.
PUNCH Metro was told that the cleric’s house was, however, given to somebody else.
While appealing for reallocation, Solomon said he planned to return from Switzerland soon to settle down in Lagos with his wife and children.
He said, “I paid the complete N353,500 for a two-bedroomed bungalow at the Lekki Jubilee Housing Estate, which was operated by the state government. I was allocated a place, with address and house number.
“I travelled to Europe and asked my brothers to follow it up. When it was time to possess the place, the government allocated it to another person without informing me. When I returned to lay claim to the property, I was told that the place had been allocated to another person.”
The cleric said the struggle to possess his property continued till 2010, when he was told that his file was missing.
He explained that the Lagos State Ministry of Housing later found it and promised to get back to him.
“Sometime in 2013, when I didn’t hear from them, a friend connected me with the then state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and the file was sent to him. I learnt that the governor directed that the ministry should allocate any available building to me,” he added.
Solomon said his hope rose when he was called for a meeting while in Europe, adding that he was represented by a lawyer and another friend at the meeting.
He said the state government representatives promised to get back to him after the meeting.
He said, “I was in Lagos on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, and I went to their office. They said they had yet to locate my file and that I should return the following week. On October 12, I went back there and they said they had not found the file. I have not heard from them since then. This is looking to me like delay tactics.”
Solomon said some workers in the ministry advised him to file for a refund of his money, describing the suggestion as “ridiculous”.
“All I want is for them to allocate any available building to me, considering that I paid them in full. I want to settle down in Lagos with my family and have a roof over my head; I am getting old,” he said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, could not be reached as his mobile phone rang out several times.
The Commissioner for Housing, Gbolahan Lawal, said, “Tell him to resend all his documents so we can look for his file. We have not seen it yet. Maybe if he does that, then we can take it up from there.”
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