Delicate Frontier

A father-in-law invited his son-in-law for a meeting

When the son-in-law got there, the father-in-law told him that he had just been offered two plots of land close to his house for sale

He didn't have the money to buy it, but he felt he should call both his own son and his son-in-law to buy one plot of the land each.

The son-in-law, a moderately wealthy banker, asked the Father-In-law for the cost and paid for a plot.

The Father-In-Law told him that his son had also paid and would start construction soon.

He encouraged his son-in-law to also develop the plot of land quickly because of land grabbers.

He offered to help him supervise the project as he will also be supervising the project of his own son.

He was a landlord in the area, and his influence would help handle all the touts who would usually disturb new project sites for illegal payments.

The son-in-law agreed, and the project commenced.

Things went on well for six months until the son-in-law had to travel for a programme in the USA, and this affected the funds he was sending for the project.

When he returned to Nigeria, he noticed that the other project, which his father-in-law claimed to be supervising for his own son, also didn't progress from where it was since he travelled.

It was this other project that his father-in-law was using to motivate him all along, and he felt the house would have been completed while he was away.

He took all the bills and receipts of all the materials he had bought to a quantity surveyor, and he was told the materials he had paid for ought to have completed his project

He deduced that his father-in-law had been using his money to develop both properties simultaneously.

He then reached out to the person who sold the land and discovered that he had paid for both plots.

The original receipt went to his father-in-law

His father-in-law then issued another receipt for one plot to him.

He decided not to confront his father-in-law because it would ruin the marriage and possibly lead to an ugly situation that would be avoided.

He decided to take the project off his father-in-law and give it to an independent contractor to complete.

His father-in-law refused, stating that nobody would work on that project but him.

He said it was through his influence that the son-in-law got the land for cheap and with ease, and it was through his influence that the area touts and land grabbers were kept at bay

He said if anybody reports to the site for work outside of his own contractors, he would unleash hell on them.

The son-in-law is asking what he should do in this situation.

PS: I got the phone number of the Father-In-Law and introduced myself to him as the "Pastor" of the son-in-law. I told him what the Son-In-Law discovered through his investigations and the options being considered.

I told him I told his Son-In-Law to let me talk to him before the option of EFCC and selling off the property is pursued.

Baba listened and said he has been building the two houses for his daughter and his son-in-law.

(The daughter being the wife of the Son-In-Law) and that he only said it was for his son because he didn't know how the Son-In-Law will take it if he had told him he wanted him to build a house for his wife on the plot next to his house.

He said he has nothing to hide and would have preferred that the son-in-law come to him with his findings instead of trying to use a roundabout way to take over the construction project

The couple already live in their own house, and this project was a block of four flats on each plot

The father-In-law said he built one for his daughter to protect her interest because life is unpredictable

He said his daughter should come to his house to pick up the documents for both plots.

He said he is handing off the project, and the son-in-law can complete both buildings with his choice of contractor.

He also promised to continue to help with touts and land grabbers until the project is done.

I want to thank everybody for their counsel, it helped to present a compelling and persuasive case in the resolution of the problem.

This ended swiftly and was a win for everybody.

God bless you.