…How Femi Osibona’s Greed, Impunity Did Him in
Barely 48hours ago, the eye-popping 21-Storey blocks of luxury apartments on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, which, even at its incomplete stage, stood out in its mammoth and magnificent glory, was the stuff of every commuter and passerby’s residential fantasy.
By noon, Monday, November 1, one of the three towers in 360 Degrees formerly known as Fourscore Heights, was reduced to a mere rubble, burying in its bowels hapless lives and shattering the dreams of many wealthy Nigerians who had broken the banks to acquire the apartments. Gone with the building also are millions of dollars already paid by those desirous of premium luxury living in the project, which offered a mix of 3-bed and 4-bed apartments including maisonettes and penthouses.
360 Degrees Towers is a 63 apartments-unit residential project by Fourscore Homes owned by Femi Osibona, a real estate investor with a large portfolio of luxury properties across Nigeria, South Africa, the U.A.E, UK, and the U.S.A.
Osibona said in a dated interview, “What we want to achieve is to have people live in their homes as if they’re living in a 7-star hotel. There is security with access control from the entrance on Gerald Road and there is another security post when coming into the buildings. Electricity will be guaranteed 24 hours a day and there will be cleaning and gardening around the estate, as well as housekeeping/ concierge services for those who desire it.”
The price range for the apartments is said to be between $1.2 million and $5 million and Fourscore Homes said that 65% of the apartments had been sold and were set to be occupied by 2022.
TheCapital reliably gathered that Osibona had, indeed, collected over $35m from interested buyers who looked forward to living “a stress-free lifestyle, complete with a hotel flair” as promised by Fourscore Homes in a client brochure.
A source told this medium that a lady recently paid multimillion dollars as an initial payment for the penthouse. Many other prominent government officials are currently ruing their humongous loss because Osibona, popularly known as Femi Fourscore, was in the building at the time of the collapse. Whether dead or alive, his body has yet to be recovered.
However, many people who are privy to Osibona’s modus operandi have no pity whatsoever for him. He has widely been criticised for his greed and predilection for cutting corners. It was gathered that the project was originally supposed to be on eight-storeys, but that Osibona increased it to 15 and later, 21.
Mr Gbolahan Oki, General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), confirmed this, adding, “He got an approval for a 15-storey building and he exceeded his limit. I am on the ground here and the materials he used are so inferior and terrible. The materials he used, the reinforcement, are so terrible. He got approval for 15 floors but built 21.”
Meanwhile, before Monday’s unfortunate collapse, which has so far claimed about 14 lives, the Lagos State government had sealed the building for ostensibly bypassing procedural approvals from the state government and other authorities vested with the mandate to ensure compliance with standards and quality.
Concerned Nigerians are saying that for tragically enabling the death of ordinary Nigerians eking out their living on the site, if Osibona was fortunate to be rescued, he should face the full wrath of the law for criminal negligence, fraud and murder.
