Businessman, Adeoye Lands In Trouble Over Plans To Eject 48 Tenants With Thugs

MICHAEL AKINOLA

Police operatives from Alagbon in Lagos State have started manhunt for a businessman, Thomas Adeoye, who threatened to demolish a plaza occupied by 48 tenants in order to eject them illegally as new landlord.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that Adeoye gave the tenants occupying shops at Ajiroba Plaza, located at 243 Ijegun/ Ikotun Road, Ijegun, two months to move out their properties threatening to demolish the place as he claimed he had no time to waste going to Court.

Following the threat to their lives and properties, the tenants wrote a petition to the Police at Alagbon to intervene in order to protect their lives and properties from Adeoye’s irrational action.

Trouble was said to have started when Adeoye, through his Lawyer, O.A. Ajayi, Ajayi & Co, wrote letters to the tenants, who have about 19 different landlords in the plaza on 26th July, 2021, to move out on or before 31st October, 2021.

The tenants wondered why such notice would be served on them after their various landlords had collected rents from them and discreetly sold the place without informing them.
They reportedly told the businessman, Adeoye, that he was not their landlord and besides, the plaza had different landlords and if the plaza was sold, their landlords will have notified the tenants.
They advised him to ask their landlords to inform the tenants if he actually bought the place and that due process should be followed if he wants to quit them.

In one of the letters sighted by our correspondent, it stated that they were not against him taking possession but were getting conflict responses from their landlords insisting he should pay some money for the damages he has caused as the threat had occasioned great loss.

It was gathered that Adeoye flared up and told the tenants, majority of whom are Igbo, that he can deal with them. Since then, it was reported that he has been molesting, harassing and causing problem in the plaza with known thugs and miscreants invading the place placing public notice to scare customers while disrupting activities at the plaza almost on a daily basis.

When Adeoye was contacted, he said he did not mean to demolish and sack the tenants illegally, stating his action was based on the issue he had with the owners of the place after he made payments.
He said he wants to make peace with the tenants and possibly refund them some money to get another place.

Meanwhile, Adeoye has been summoned by the Police and it was not certain if he will honour the invitation at Alagbon over intimidation and threat to the lives and properties of the tenants in the plaza.