Landlord Hires Police, Soldiers To Eject Tenant

MICHAEL AKINOLA

In the quest to fast track ejection, a landlord, Emmanuel Otoigiakhi, has landed in trouble after he reportedly hired police officers and soldiers to eject one of his tenants, Larry Inibhunu, from his rented 3-bedroom apartment in Lagos.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the journey started with the arraignment of the tenant, Mr. Larry Inibhunu, on the charge of illegal detention of the landlord’s lawyer (Endurance Nkenchor) and clerk, Miss Favour Ofoegbu.

The clerk was sent to deliver a quit notice dated 20th September 2015 (a Sunday) and delivered on 6th March, 2016, which he objected to.
In order to teach him a lesson, the tenant, Mr. Larry Inibhunu, was framed up by the Police at New Oko Oba that he illegally detained one Miss Favour Ofoegbu and charged him to Court, where he was remanded in prison custody.

However, the case was fixed for trial on four occasions, but Miss Ofoegbu refused to show up to testify. The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. E Kubenji, then struck out the matter and set the tenant, Inibhunu, free.
The landlord also filed a civil suit via his lawyer, Mr. Nkenchor, at the Ogba Magistrates Court presided by Mr. K.O. Ogundare to take possession of the apartment with the back dated quit notice. The matter was slated for hearing when a Police Corporal, Patrick Enegbetale, who is a brother-in-law to the landlord got into the matter. The Police officer attached to State Police Provost, reportedly led his wife, Faith Enegbetale (nee Otoigiakhi), Friday Otoigiakhi, younger brother and other accomplices to the house and forcefully ejected Larry Inibhunu on a Saturday.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the house in question is located at No. 21, Adeogun Street, Off Jibowo Road, Abule-Egba, Lagos, where the tenant resided before the armed men invaded his home, threw his belongings and household wares outside while chasing him and members of his family away.
The New Oko Oba Police DPO later discovered that there was no court order. It turned out that Enegbatale and his wife, who were found by the Police at the scene could not furnish a single  document emanating from any Court to justify ejecting Mr. Larry Inibhunu from the flat.

The Commissioner of Police then instigated an internal investigation of the incident but the report of internal investigation did not see the light of day due to the intervention of Enegbatale’s powerful friends in the system at Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, particularly D’7′ headed by one Mustapha.

Following the injustice meted out to Mr. Larry Inibhunu, he filed a suit, pending before the Lagos High Court, claiming damages from the landlord and his agents for trespass, looting and collateral damage to property in the process of the illegal ejection.
In the suit, with suit number ID/3542 GCMW/2017 filed on his behalf by his counsel, Barrister E.A. Iyobhebhe, the claimant, Mr. Inibhunu, seeks a declaration that the invasion by the defendants in the name of Nigeria Police under false pretence of a non-existing Court order for possession of the claimant’s flat was illegal, invalid and an act of trespass.
An order awarding the total sum of N26m for looted property, special and exemplary damages including cost of the action in Court.
The matter is pending before the Presiding Judge, Honourable Justice Ikwuobi, of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the landlord has not yet perfected his response to the suit since it was filed in February, 2017.