EKO NEWS
‘Gbajue On Steroids’ — Reno Omokri Calls Out Landmark On Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project
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A part of the Landmark Africa Beach Resort was recently demolished by the Federal Government.
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The resort was demolished to clear the way for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
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However, Landmark Africa remains in business, raising eyebrows from critics.
Eko Hot Blog reports that that Reno Omokri, a former presidential spokesperson, has criticised Landmark Africa for its handling of the demolition of a part of its building.
Omokri made his displeasure known in a post on social media over the weekend.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Recall that on April 29, 2024, the Federal Government demolished a part of the Landmark Africa Beach Resort in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The company cried out, saying what it had built for six years had been destroyed over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
However, a few days later, Landmark Africa posted on social media that it was open for business.
Reacting to the situation, Omokri criticised the company for misleading the public on the extent of the loss it suffered.
Reno Omokri
The former presidential spokesperson lamented that Landmark Africa distorted the truth, thus de-marketing as a business destination.
“It was not true that Landmark’s business had been destroyed. Only a small portion of temporary structures, which had encroached on the beach, which by law cannot belong to an individual or corporation, was demolished,” he said.
“The demolished portion comprised less than 3% of their business, and the Landmark corporation was and is still thriving.
“But here is the thing. While their post distorting the truth and de-marketing Lagos had 4.6 million views, this new and truthful one only garnered a million views.
Reno Omokri made this collage explaining what he said are the lie and the truth of the Landmark situation
“Landmark pushed a false narrative, with the help of heavyweights, such as Peter Obi and the Moghalus, that the Tinubu administration had destroyed their business, because of their ethnicity, and their staff had all lost their jobs while they lost the shirts on their backs.
“But it was a lie. Their business was still very much open and thriving. There had been no employee mass firings.
FURTHER READING
“It was just a manipulative publicity stunt to turn the public against the government and pressure them to allow a structure that had no standing in law to continue existing.”
Read Reno Omokri’s full post below:
Gbajue on Steroids: Landmark and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project
One thing we can learn from the ongoing dispute between Landmark Africa, owned by Paul Onwuanibe, and the Federal Government of Nigeria over the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project is how some people and organizations understand the average Southern Nigerian person’s love for bad news, and how they weaponize it, by using it to manipulate Nigerians.
On April 30, 2024, Landmark released a post on X claiming, “What we built in 6 years was destroyed in 6 hours.”
The post showed before and after photos that gave the impression that Landmark had been destroyed and the company was in ruins.
Trust Nigerians, especially Southerners, and our penchant for negativity. The post went internationally viral, and almost 5 million people viewed it, with most insulting the President and some heaping curses on the Works Minister, Dave Umahi.
One fellow, @greatdarl on X, said, “Man it’s so scary to build anything in Naija esp Lagos and they claim nothing would happen to several lives employed and impacted by this resort.”
Someone else, @Dycocoo, said, “My heart goes out to all the staff that will be unemployed now”.
Another famous person, Maryanne Moghalu, said, “Invest in Lagos at your peril.”
And we all sang a requiem for Landmark and went to bed.
But then a week later, on May 6, 2024, Landmark resurrected on X, posting that’ “Landmark Lagos is Open for Business!”
It was not true that Landmark’s business had been destroyed. Only a small portion of temporary structures, which had encroached on the beach, which by law cannot belong to an individual or corporation, was demolished.
The demolished portion comprised less than 3% of their business, and the Landmark corporation was and is still thriving.
But here is the thing. While their post distorting the truth and de-marketing Lagos had 4.6 million views, this new and truthful one only garnered a million views.
Landmark pushed a false narrative, with the help of heavyweights, such as Peter Obi and the Moghalus, that the Tinubu administration had destroyed their business, because of their ethnicity, and their staff had all lost their jobs while they lost the shirts on their backs. But it was a lie. Their business was still very much open and thriving. There had been no employee mass firings.
It was just a manipulative publicity stunt to turn the public against the government and pressure them to allow a structure that had no standing in law to continue existing.
The first post had gone viral and was featured on many international forums, denting Nigeria’s image.
After leading the world to believe that “What we built in 6 years was destroyed in 6 hours” and that they lost ‘$200 million worth of investment’, the truth is that Landmark came out virtually unscathed by this exercise.
But the world would not hear that story. Only the lie. And stations like Arise TV, who were willing participants in perpetuating this lie, will move to the next lie, without skipping a beat.
Let me assure you that Landmark has no intention of leaving Lagos. Because, if they do, they will lose money, while Lagos will lose NOTHING! It is in their interest to remain in Lagos.
And even their second post was not done to correct the damage they did. It was motivated by greed. You see, Landmark had to clear the air because many people who used to book them for their events were moving elsewhere, since ‘What we built in 6 years was destroyed in 6 hours’. And when they noticed that, they had to clear the air for their selfish benefit.
You see? It is so much easier to destroy than to build.
Reno Omokri
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