Lagos State-Chidi Iwuoha, a tenant of 19 Kayode Alabi Street, Ogba, Lagos, who was ejected from his two bedroom flat over his inability to pay the balance of his rent, has accused his landlord, a retired Customs officer, of conniving with court bailiffs to carry out the action.
Iwuoha claimed that he was neither served quit notice nor court summons before he was forcefully thrown out with his wife and three children. When Vanguard visited the building on Tuesday, his properties were still outside the two-storey building, including a pot of stew, which the family intended to eat when the unexpected happened.
It was gathered that the father of three moved into the building in November 2014. But by 2015, he said his business was no longer flourishing, thereby finding it difficult to pay his rent. Tenant, Iwuoha’s property in front of the house as thrown out by the landlord What I’ve paid— He said: “But by April 2015, I gave my landlord 90,000 out of the N300,000 rent, with a promise to pay him the balance as soon as I got it. Three weeks ago, I gave him additional N61,000, while he was renovating his house, with an outstanding balance of N149,000. “Along the line, he started threatening to throw me out of his house, boasting that there was nothing I could do. “He said he had several houses in Lagos and that he would deal with me same way he dealt with other tenants, who refused to pay their rents. He bragged that nobody could do anything to him.
Tenant, Iwuoha and his children protest at Government House, Alausa over having his property thrown out of the house by landlord “He said aside being a Customs officer, even though he is retired, he also had relatives in government. “He made do his threat last Thursday, when he came with some men, who claimed to be court bailiffs.
I dragged them to the Ogba Police Division where the DPO, who initially said that the division was not aware of the bailiffs’ visit, confirmed the authenticity of their action. “He (DPO) advised me to visit the Magistrate’s Court, Ogba, to confirm. But before I came back from the court, I met them throwing down my property from the balcony upstairs. “They went away with my air conditioners, freezer, television and other electronics. He is only doing this to me because he feels I am nobody.” As at yesterday Iwuoha and his children were at the Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, to protest what they described as illegal ejection. But security men at the gate prevented the card-carrying family from entering, asking them to go get a letter which would be submitted to the governor.
He is a liar— Landlord However, when the landlord, Mr. Fredrick Sanya, was contacted, he described Iwuoha’s claim as a lie, stating that he was served a quit notice and court summons. He said: “I personally served him quit notice in 2015, while my wife served him the notice on our intention to go to court. He was served a court summons by the court. So, how is his not appearing before the court my business? “Two other tenants, who were also served court summons, have packed out. This particular man owes me one year and four months’ rent. He did not pay his electricity bill and water rate. “The part payment he talked about was N35,000 and not N150,000. It was for water maintenance. If he claimed to have paid N150,000, tell him to show you the receipt. “I did the right thing by taking him to court and as a law enforcement agent, I cannot do something that is unlawful. He is a liar.”
See: vanguard
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