The Ogun State chapter of the Labour Party has raised an alarm over the alleged secret sale of public housing estates by the Governor Dapo Abiodun administration. In a strongly worded statement issued on Monday, January 19, 2026, the party’s National Vice Chairman for the South West, Dr. Abayomi Arabambi, accused the government of asset stripping and disposing of properties built with taxpayers’ money.
The controversy centers on the historic Ibara Housing Estate and various properties managed by the Ogun State Housing Corporation, which the Labour Party claims are being handed over to private interests through opaque arrangements.
According to Arabambi, these estates were originally established to provide affordable housing for civil servants and low income citizens rather than to serve as speculative assets for private developers.
The party has called upon eminent leaders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, to intervene and halt the transactions. Furthermore, the Labour Party alleged that its Freedom of Information requests regarding the beneficiaries of these sales have been ignored for over two months. Consequently, the party has briefed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to initiate legal proceedings against the state government.
In a swift rebuttal, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, dismissed the allegations as flippant and born out of ignorance. Akinmade clarified that the Ibara GRA remains government owned property and is currently the site of a widely praised Urban Renewal Initiative.
He argued that the project is transforming what were once dilapidated and illegally occupied structures into a modern, world class residential corridor. According to the government, the regeneration has already delivered over 150 modern units and has received accolades from the very elder statesmen the Labour Party is appealing to for intervention.
The state government maintains that urban renewal is a global best practice and a necessary step to modernize the state capital. While the Labour Party views the redevelopment as a loss of collective heritage and a threat to affordable housing, the administration insists that it is restoring value to underutilized land.
As the legal threat looms, the Commissioner for Housing, Jamiu Omoniyi, reiterated that the state remains on track to deliver 3,000 additional housing units across various price points by the end of the 2026 fiscal year, suggesting that the Ibara project is only one component of a much broader housing roadmap.
