Tinubu Denies Ownership of Oriental Hotels, Others

Tinubu Denies Ownership of Oriental Hotels, Others

By Ozumi Abdul

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has denied ownership of properties linked to him like Oriental Hotels, Civic Center and others.

Tinubu, in a documentary on his achievements as Lagos State Governor, said he only provided the enabling environment for investors to invest in the Lekki Corridor.

In the excerpt posted on Twitter by Jubril Gawat, a media aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the former governor said the entire Lekki Corridor was a refuse dump that took months to clear.

There have been speculations about the ownership of the Oriental Hotels located along the popular Ozumba Mbadiwe road on Island.

During the Lekki shooting in 2020, the hotel was targeted by hoodlums who were of the impression that the it belongs to the former Lagos state governor.

The event prompted the Western Metal Product Company, the owners of the facilities, to issue a statement about ownership of the hotel.

The Executive Director of WEMCO, Taiwo Ali, had disclosed that the WEMCO group has 99 per cent of the shares of the hotels.

Media outlets like The Nation newspaper, Television Continental and Max Radio that were linked to Tinubu were also attacked.

Speaking in the documentary, Tinubu, who was governor between 1999 and 2007, said he does not own the Oriental Hotel and other properties linked to him but that his administration invested resources to clear the refuse at the place where the hotel and the civic centre are located.

“I have converted a liability confronting Lagos to an asset of great value. Along Ozumba Mbadiwe, we used to pick dead bodies. .

“I brought private investors in hospitality — they created the boat club, the Civic Center that is of great value to many people today — that was a refuse dump. Nobody would easily remember that Oriental Hotel was a refuse dump— a mile of refuse along that corridor. It took several months of escalating and a great investment for those investors to take the risk. Majority of those assets they claim are mine are not mine.

“I created an economic and recovery path for Lagos. There is no state that can brag of the exponential development that is going on in the Lekki Corridor,” he said.