Oluwatosin Ayegbe, a Nigerian residing in the United States, paid N48.7 million to Dollar Construction Limited, an Oyo State-based real estate firm, between 2021 and 2023 with hopes of securing a home in Nigeria. However, his hopes were dashed when the company failed to deliver as promised.

Ayegbe is not alone in his plight. Folashade Olaopa, his relative who brought the supposed good news of Dollar Construction Ltd to him, has her N52 million tied up with the company too.

Recounting all that happened, Ayegbe told EQ that after Olaopa informed him about the real estate company, he considered them fair and entered into a contract with them. This decision was easy because his relative had invested as well with Dollar Construction Ltd.

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Ayegbe said that after communicating with the company, he learnt he would pay N52 million within two years for a four-bedroom duplex in Ibadan. On June 2, 2021, he kicked off his contract by paying N12 million to Dollar Construction Ltd for the duplex with a monthly payment of N1.7 million.

Receipt of Ayegbe’s first payment to Dollar Construction Ltd

“At the expiration of the two years, Lamidi Idowu, the chairman and owner of the firm, had not completed my house and that of my relative, despite her paying in full. I had paid N48.7 million at the time, but my house was still at lintel level after two years,” Ayegbe told EQ.

A petition from Ayegbe and Olaopa’s lawyers to the EFCC

“When it was time for him to hand us our keys to the property, he began to give us stories. To date, the job has been at a standstill. We handed over the case to a law firm when nothing was forthcoming for us to either get our money back or finish up the property; however, there’s now no concrete improvement. We are in a waiting game, with over N100 million wasted without any achievement.”

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Olaopa, Ayegbe’s relative in the United States, told EQ she found Lamidi Idowu’s contact online but did not invest her funds into his business until people she sent to visit the construction site returned with reports of building activities.

“They met with Lamidi Idowu. We entered into a contract of N52 million for a four-bedroom duplex, with the cost spread across two years. Our initial contract was that I would pay N5 million quarterly, but we re-drafted the contract to a monthly payment,” Olaopa told EQ.

When EQ called Lamidi Idowu for comments on Sunday, he dismissed the claims, stating he had not stopped communicating with them, adding that if they wanted their property, they should go to him directly.

“Let them come and meet me and talk about the property. You can also come with them,” Idowu told EQ.

When EQ asked him if he had disappeared, he said, “Now that you called me, did I not answer?”
The post Lamidi Idowu’s Dollar Construction Fails to Deliver Clients’ N100m 4-Bedroom Duplex, Has Stories to Tell appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.