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r Kunle Oyekola’s dream
of having his own property at Okeira in the Badagry area of Lagos was almost
hampered because he fell into the hands of the ubiquitous land owners popularly
called Omoniles. He had paid for the land to a particular family only for
another to surface, also laying claim to the ownership of the land. Mr Oyekola
was forced to part with twice the amount he paid the former family in order to
repossess the land. But his woes did not end there, Immediately he brought sand
to the site, another group of young men arrived at the scheme demanding various
sums of money for the youths, foundation and community development association
(CDA). They made outrageous demands at every stage of construction,
confiscating the tools of the workmen and threatening to stop further work at
the site……
Jude Njoku story from vanguard news, on February, 2011
Mr Oyekola’s plight is synonymous
with what many Lagosian residents and property developers go though in the
hands of Omoniles on daily basis. The son of the soil or Omonile syndrome has
spread to virtually all parts of the country, making land acquisition not only
cumbersome but very expensive.
These Omoniles can be completely
avoided if prospective land buyers can either go for government owned land or
exercise a lot of restraint so as not to fall into wrong hands. Be circumspect
when buying private property and make sure it is properly researched by a legal
person – who confirms from the government that the property is actually in the
name of the document that is presented to you. Only then are you to give your
attention to the Omoniles.
To
handle the Omoniles
- . . Make a research on the owner’s family and community. Keep away from the family, if they are famous for their notoriety in extorting money from innocent purchasers that runs into their Millions a times. Some of them will turn your to a human ATM until you do your house warming. Most of them are located in Eti-Osa local Government and they are as dangerous as it gets. They keep army of thugs in case you get out of line and you are at their mercy. If you can avoid buying in those areas that have a checkered past, please look for alternatives.
2.
Play with their greedy mind. If the family you are buying from
appeals to you, let them know of your interest in it but don’t show extreme
desperation. These People are not interested in you or your well being, only
the smell of your money matters to them. Fuel their Interest and water their
throat that you have the money to pay for the property but you are interested
in negotiating the total cost of all the fees you are to pay, unless you would walk
away because you have other options. If they are still adamant not to concede
anything to you, issue them a photocopy of the check or bank draft for them to
hold and tell them you are waiting for your lawyer to come and help you draw up
the agreements for you. If they don’t hear from you after a day or 2, they will
bombard you with phone calls asking you when you are coming to pay.
Any Omonile that holds a photocopy of
a check or bank draft is already a Slave to you and is ready to do your
bidding. If you give him excuses why you might not honour the check, he will ask
you to name them. Tell him you still have to pay agency fees, legal fees,
survey the land, etc. and this Omonile fees are a big hindrance to the
transaction because it is over shooting your budget. They will at this Juncture
personally revise the Omonile fees either through a drastic reduction or
outright cancellation of the Signing Fees because they don’t want to lose the
full figure of the land compared to the Omonile Fees they were craving for
previously. If an Omonile or a disgruntled section of the Omoniles decides to
still demand for that Omonile Signing fee, it would lead to an internal
squabble amongst themselves to coerce the person or group to see the bigger
picture with respect to the full cost of the Land they are about to miss if
they stand their grounds for that Omonile Fee.
3.
Avoid paying twice. With respect to the nauseating
“FOUNDATION FEES”, you can temporarily evade this one by telling them that you
will pay their Foundation fees when you want to start building properly. The
Smart ones amongst them will quickly tell you that you must pay the foundation
fees once you attempt to construct a Fence. Argue with them at this point in
time and involve your lawyer. Tell them you will never buy a land and leave it
unattended to without fencing it and if they want to bully you to pay
Foundation money to them as Fencing Money, then know they don’t wish you well
and you can take your money to another place.
Also add an extra sweetener by telling
the Selling Omonile that you will give him the contract to supply the blocks
and cement to fence your land round but if he insists on collecting the
Foundation Fee now, you would not give him the business. Trust me he would go
and fight on your behalf for them to forgo the fee now because he doesn't want
to lose your business.
The reason why this method works so
well is because you are working on their inner greed and the need for them to
get paid immediately. It is also an advantage for you to forgo this fee right
now because even if you pay it now and you leave your land unattended to in
months or years, whenever you feel you are financially buoyant to start work,
you will just see another set of thugs or Families coming to demand you pay
them for a new Foundation fee. Your protestation that you have already paid
this fee to the accredited representatives of the Family will fall on deaf ears
and you must pay this new set of people before you can start work. This form of
Omonile Double Taxation is very rampart and you should learn from this to avoid
being their next victim.
Note: In all these, be patient and
steadfast. Do not act timid. Most of the time when they call you, refer them to
your lawyer. They fear Lawyers and find it very difficult to convince lawyers
to bend to their wishes.
Reference
- http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/be-very-circumspect-when-you-are-dealing-with-land-matters-%E2%80%94-experts-warn/h
- http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/be-very-circumspect-when-you-are-dealing-with-land-matters-%E2%80%94-experts-warn/
- http://buildingcontractorsecrets.com/category/uncategorized/
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