Popular music promoter battles estate over electricity fraud

Popular Nigerian Concert promoter and CEO of Upfront and Personal Global Management, Paul Okoye, has been accused by the management of the 1004 Homeowners and Residents Association, Victoria Island, Lagos, of bypassing the electricity meter connected to his home and vandalising the apartment of the acting chairperson of the association, Lara Ademola.

According to a statement by the estate management, Okoye threatened to vandalise as many facilities as possible in the estate. The statement read in part, “Mr Paul Okoye’s apartment had been previously disconnected and flagged for having no vending history since 2017 despite visibly having power, and being occupied. He was manually disconnected and he came to the (estate) office the next day, threatening to cause a breakdown of law and order.

He instructed that the apartment be inspected and it was discovered that there was a bypass. This was recorded on video. The meter was reconnected and bypass removed, pending when the bypass penalty is sorted out. Mr Okoye thereafter promised to pay whatever penalty had been imposed but pleaded that we reconnect him that night because of his guests. He was subsequently given the bill but he rejected it, claiming the bypass was done by a technician.

All efforts to get him to stick to his terms of reconnection proved abortive as he claimed he couldn’t pay since he wasn’t resident in the apartment. He subsequently threatened to get a sledgehammer and break as many facilities as he could, particularly promising to proceed to the acting chairperson’s apartment to break down her door.

“On getting to the acting chairperson’s apartment, he vandalised the burglar proof and the main door. This case of criminal damage and threat to lives was reported at the Police Area Command, Lion Building, Lagos, but was frustrated by a Divisional Police Officer in the area who convinced his boss not to attend to us.”

Meanwhile, when journalists reached out to Okoye, who is the brain behind the popular One Africa Music Fest, he said he was having an online video call and sent titled, ‘5 billion Naira extortion and fraud crime ring by the 1004 HORA management: exposed’.

It read in part, “The tenants, landlords and stakeholders in 1004 have been defrauded for over five years by the estate management. There is absolutely no transparency or accountability in the estate. The management will disconnect electricity at any time without warning, reason or formally reading meters. They just collect money.

The management is fast to label its tenants as problematic and liars whereas they are the ones who are doing daylight robbery. We have opened a case at the police station where she was formally invited to the station to answer questions but she refused to appear.”

The statement also enjoined residents of the estate to come out on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, to ‘speak your mind and get some answers. We demand accountability. We need new effective management and leadership now’.