Estate Agent Arrested In Lagos For Simultaneously Renting 1 Bedroom To 50 Tenants, Netting N10 Million

A Nigerian estate agent and son of a landlord have been arraigned for allegedly conspiring and renting a bedroom and sitting room apartment at 9 Olorunwa Street Shasha, Lagos southwest Nigeria, to 50 prospective tenants at the same time.
The 36-year old Adedoyin Agboola was arrested and charged before Ejigbo Magistrate’s court, for deceiving the prospective tenants to give him N10 million, about $62,000, on the pretence of renting out the apartment to them.
The police charged him with a 70-count felony, obtaining under false pretence and stealing under sections 409, 278 and 312 of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011. His plea was not granted and the presiding Magistrate, Mrs M B Folami ordered that the matter to be transferred to Lagos High Court, Ikeja for trial.
Among those he allegedly defrauded are Sunday Aladeniyi, N145,000, Sunday Peter, N115,000, Fatai Ayoola, N175,000, Ariyo Femi, N150,000. Juliana Gabriel, N300,000, Peter Fatoki, N225,000, and Franklin Sunday, N220,000.
Others include Shola Bakare, N100,000, Salami Lateef, N 300,000, Akande Olusegun, N135,000, Anselem Okoli, N230,000.
While he was in court, more victims trooped to the court to testify and stand as witnesses against him.
The incident has resulted in a free-for-all between the victims who struggled to occupy the apartment.
The fight started after the victims discovered that they had been duped but the police at Shasha division later intervened in the matter and launched a manhunt for the suspect.
While the suspect was arrested and arraigned, his accomplices are still at large.
Some of the victims who spoke to P.M.NEWS expressed frustrations and blamed their predicament on Agboola, who denied the allegation.
He told P.M.NEWS that when his father, Reuben Adedoyin, died this year, the family decided to build the apartment in their compound.
He said he contacted his friend, who is a developer, to build the apartment on certain conditions, but was not aware he collected such amount from the victims.
Agboola claimed that it was when the victims came to his house and started fighting over the apartment that he knew about the incident.
He said: “ When I tried to contact my friend who developed the place, I discovered he had fled.”
Agboola’s aged mother, Mrs Maria Adedoyin , also alleged that the developer of the house, whom she identified as Tolu Johnson, betrayed the family by defrauding the people