2023: I don’t own Oriental Hotel, other properties linked to me – Tinubu

Presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has denied ownership of some properties in Lagos linked to him including Oriental Hotel and Civic Center.

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

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

Speculations have linked the Tinubu to the ownership of the Oriental Hotel located along the popular Ozumba Mbadiwe road in Victoria Island.

But the APC presidential candidate who was Lagos state 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 dumps at the place where the hotel and the civic centre are located.

He said: “I have converted a liability confronting Lagos to an asset of great value. Along Ozumba Mbadiwe, we used to pick dead bodies. People have forgotten truck pushers in those areas. You have the dirties coastline along Ozumba Mbadiwe all through Lekki corridor.

“I brought private investors, 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.”