AISHA ABUBAKAR
A 59-year old landlord, Josiah Olowofeso, has told an Upper Area Court, Kubwa, how his tenant, James Otaru’s fiancée, Kemi Kusimo, burned his house and other properties worth N47 million while she had a misunderstanding with her lover in the compound.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the Police has charged Otaru and Kusimo before the Court for alleged conspiracy and mischief by setting the property on fire.
The two, Otaru and Kusimo, were lovers and were said to have agreed to get married before they had a misunderstanding over an undisclosed issue, which led the lady to set the house on fire and destroyed all the properties in the house including theirs.
The matter was reported to the Police and they were arrested. They were subsequently charged before the Court for the alleged offence, which attracts several years of imprisonment.
However, they pleaded not guilty.
The embittered landlord, Olowofeso, who is a civil servant, made the allegation while being led in evidence by the Prosecution Counsel, Babajide Olanipekun, before the Court.
“While I was in Church on 15th January, 2023, I got a message that my house at Maryson Street, Byazhin, Kubwa, had been set ablaze.”
“By the time I got to the house, I discovered that the roof was not there again, while some Nigerian Fire Service personnel had been there trying to put out the fire.”
“A photographer was invited and pictures of the scene were taken and printed.
Some of my tenants told me that there was a misunderstanding between the defendants and that Kusimo threatened to burn down the house but that they cautioned her against doing so, as they would all lose their properties.”
“Before they knew what was happening, Kusimo had set the house ablaze and locked herself in,” he said.
Olowofeso further stated that Policemen from Byazhin Station later arrested Kusimo, while Otaru apologised to him, saying it was the work of the devil.
The complainant said that the estimated loss of his property and those of the tenants was about N47 million, saying that Kusimo said she only had N800,000 to pay for the destruction.
The Presiding Judge, Mohammed Wakili, adjourned the matter till 15th February, 2024, for the continuation of the hearing.