Adebanjo dares Tinubu and Bisi Akande to come clean on their sources of wealth
By Emma Ogbuehi
In a blistering riposte to allegations levelled against him in the controversial book, “My Participation”, written by former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, Afenifere chieftain, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, has challenged the author and All Progressive Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Tinubu, to disclose sources of their wealth.
Adebanjo who threw the challenge in a press conference in his Lagos residence, was reacting to a section of the book in which he was said to have brought pressure on Tinubu to build a house for him. The Afenifere chieftan went ahead to list the houses he owns and the processes, through which they were acquired, denying emphatically that Tinubu built any of the houses for him.
He wondered why Tinubu, erstwhile Lagos governor, who was present at the presentation did not refute the allegation which he described as malicious falsehood emanating from his Man Friday, given that he (Tinubu) had on occasions confessed that for his (Adebanjo)’s incorruptibility and strength of character he would not have been Governor of Lagos State in 1999.
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“What then could he be demanding from me after his two-term governorship to make me pressurize him to build a house for me, when I did not get a naira from him before he became the governor?”, Adebanjo fumed.
He dismissed Akande’s allegations as mere tantrums, insisting that the former Osun governor is a neophyte and a beneficiary of a struggle he never took part in.
On his attitude to Akande’s allegations, Adebanjo said, “I have been urged to keep to the adage not to “Answer a fool less you reduce yourself to his level, but there is also an adage that says, “Answer a fool less he thinks he is wise”.
Adebanjo, a senior lawyer, disclosed that his properties included; A 4-bedroom duplex with 2-bedroom flat enclosed with 2 undeveloped plots at plot 4, block 14, Nuru Oniwo Street, Aguda Surulere, Lagos State, which he said, was commissioned in 1972 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo; A Two-storey building at Odedola Street, Surulere, Lagos State, bought through an Estate Agent; Four-storey building with a warehouse on the ground floor and six flats on top, commissioned by Chief Awolowo in 1977.
Adebanjo said he took a loan from GTBank to complete the house in Lekki where he is living.
“The Lekki property, the house in my village, Isanya Ogbo, and 3 Bedroom flat in a town house, at Omorinre Street in Lekki are the properties I have in the whole world”, he declared and invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to verify the claims.
He then dared Akande to clear the air on the allegation that his building at Ila-Orogun, Osun, was built by Tinubu by disclosing the source of financing the property and others as he had done.
Adebanjo added; “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the great philanthropist should also disclose the source of his wealth with which he bankrolled the elections of APC in the Southwest and that of General Muhammad Buhari and his various properties in Lagos”.