Prominent Lagos industrialist, Chief Razaq Okoya, and his wife, Chief (Mrs.) Shade Okoya, have dismissed recent media reports linking them and their company, RAO Investment Property Company Ltd, to alleged fraud and property scandal, describing the claims as false, malicious, and deliberately misleading.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Okoyas said the publications were “fictitious stories designed to create confusion over an open court matter, intimidate the family, and damage a name built over decades of hard work and integrity.”
According to the family, the controversy stemmed from a 16-unit, three-bedroom apartment building fully owned by Chief Okoya and registered under RAO Investment Property Company Ltd.
The property, they said, was rented to Green Birch Tech Ltd, represented by Mr. Lawrence Uwaoma Onwukwem and Hon. Isaiah Davies Ijele, for a three-year lease that expired on June 7, 2024.
After the expiration of the lease and failure of both parties to agree on new terms, Green Birch Tech Ltd filed a case (Suit No: ETD/11530/GCMW/2024) at the High Court of Lagos, Eti-Osa Division.
However, in a counterclaim filed by the Okoyas, the court, on February 18, 2025, ruled in favour of RAO Investment, ordering Green Birch to vacate the property immediately and pay outstanding rent arrears.
“Instead of complying with the court’s ruling, Green Birch appealed the judgment and filed for a stay of execution but has since failed to follow up on the appeal,” the Okoyas stated.
The family also addressed a separate case involving Dajo Oil Ltd and its owner, Senator Domingo Obende, which they described as “an old and fabricated claim.”
They explained that Dajo Oil Ltd had previously sued Chief Okoya and his company in Suit No: LD/1361/2007, which was struck out on July 15, 2008.
However, thirteen years later, the same company filed another suit (LD/5226GCM/2021) before the Lagos High Court, alleging that Chief Okoya borrowed $250,000 — a claim the family said was completely false and malicious.
“Chief Okoya and his wife have never met or had any business dealings with Dajo Oil or Senator Domingo Obende. The false claim, we discovered, originated from the connivance between Chief Okoya’s former wife, Miss Ajoke Memunat Olubando, and Senator Obende, who conspired to fabricate a story of a $250,000 loan after she left her marriage in 1999,” the statement read.
The family further clarified that the property’s original Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) had been declared missing in 2000, duly reported to the police and published in several media outlets before a Certified True Copy was obtained from the Lands Registry, Alausa, Lagos — rendering any other purported copy null and void.
The Okoyas alleged that Green Birch Tech Ltd was now attempting to exploit the unrelated Dajo Oil case as a means to blackmail the family and avoid fulfilling its rent obligations.
“Green Birch has been using this false claim as a tool of intimidation, even going as far as sending fake armed mobile policemen to the property, refusing to comply with the valid and subsisting court judgment,” the family alleged.
Reaffirming their faith in the judicial process, the Okoyas said they remain law-abiding citizens who would continue to defend their integrity through legal and transparent means.
“The general public should rest assured that the truth is clear. The Okoyas are a reputable, law-abiding family that will always take proper legal steps to protect their name and property. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, silver or gold,” the statement concluded.
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