LAGOS DEPUTY GOVERNOR WANTED BY POLICE!

The former deputy governor of Lagos State, Sinatu Ojikutu, has confessed to having defrauded a land buyer of N130 million.

Sinatu Ojikutu, along with her son Samson have been declared wanted by the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) for being allegedly involved in a N130 million Lekki land scam.

The police in their statement declared that, after admitting the crime and refunding part of the money, the former deputy governor jumped bail.

The scam

According to a petition sent to the DIG 'D' Department to the Commissioner of Police, SFU, Mrs. Ojikutu and her son conspired and sold a parcel of land at Plot 24 Block 4 at Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos.

The unnamed buyer said that he deposited the N130 million into Mrs. Ojikutu's Union Bank account in tranches. After payment, he requested for the title document of the land but was told that the original documents had been lost.

Jumped police bail

Mrs. Ojikutu, 67, served as deputy governor of Lagos State between 1992 and 1993 before the Sani Abacha led military coup truncated the democratic governance.

The police said that she connived with her son, Samson Adebisi Ojikutu, who is currently in the USA, to commit the fraud.

"She (Mrs. Ojikutu) admitted the crime but confessed that it was a genuine mistake of plot identification," said the police.

"She refunded the sum of N50 million to the complainant and promised to refund the balance as soon as she disposed her two properties she put up for sale.

"She also confessed that she had injected the complainant's money in her business."

The police further stated that Mrs. Ojikutu also made an undertaking and a payment plan was drawn up from September 2012 to November 2012.

The former deputy governor defaulted to the plan due to lack of fund, A retiree from Lagos Island, Mrs. Ojikutu made media headlines last April after a Lagos High Court ordered the state government to pay her all her retirement benefits and pension.

The Lagos State Government had stopped her entitlements after the House of Assembly enacted a law that stated that "a public office holder shall not be entitled to a grant of pension under this law if he was removed from office by the process of impeachment or for breach of any provision of the constitution."