DAYS after, the controversy surrounding No. 17, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, a commercial property that houses a number of businesses, is yet to abate. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, had filed a debt recovery action against the property owner for failing to pay back a loan obtained from a bank. Pursuant to this action, the Federal High Court in Lagos had ruled on March 18, 2016, that Mr. Felix Ezeamama who is the representative of the landlord of the property, including any agent or proxy of his, were restrained from dealing with or charging any existing tenants rents. Bone of contention….the commercial building in Ikoyi Bone of contention….the commercial building in Ikoyi Furthermore, the ruling expressly directed that all tenants were to accord recognition to AMCON as the de-facto landlord henceforth, and all rents due to the property owner be paid to the agency until the determination of the debt recovery suit.

Contempt of the court ruling But Counsel to one of the affected tenants told Vanguard Metro, VM that on June 6, 2016, one of Ezeamama’s agents contacted his clients through telephone and told him to renew his lease and rent. “According to our client, Ezeamama’s response was very disturbing. He basically suggested that our client should pay the rent even though the matter was still in court and should the matter be decided in AMCON’s favour, he would refund any unused portion of the rent to our client. “He further suggested that our client should move out of the property and wait for the outcome of the case should they fail to respect his proposal. At this point, our client took the decision to move out of the property. “Written and verbal communication went back and forth between our client and Ezeamama’s men, with his men pressuring our client to pay his rent, asserting that Ezeamama was the landlord to the property, that AMCON had no right or say in who he rents the property to,” the counsel said. When things turn sour:

The Counsel further claimed that in July, a fellow named Uche allegedly acting on behalf of Ezeamama called on phone and threatened his client. According to him: “When Uche contacted our client on phone on July 27 about the pending rent, he barked, threatened and ranted that he would do anything and everything to ensure they make payment to Ezeamama. “Following this threat, our client informed Ezeamama that his company had decided to move out of the property at the end of August and would not be renewing their rent with Ezeamama or with AMCON. “On September 6, our client’s staff arrived at the office to find the main doors to the building they occupied had been locked, preventing them entry to their office. Confused, they summoned the security men at the premises who informed our client’s staff that Uche, acting on Ezeamama’s orders had locked the door. “The staff subsequently went to the police station where they showed the policemen a copy of the court order and filed a complaint. They informed the police of their intention to gain entry by forcing the door open. They got the blessings of the police who availed them of their numbers and advised them to make contact with the police station should anyone interfere while they tried to force the door open. “However, upon return to the office, the staff got a call from Ezeamama who said he was the one who instructed Uche to lock the door and that all he was after was money. He told our client’s staff that he would instruct Uche to open the door if my client was ready to pay his rent. “Our client reassured Ezeamama on phone that his company had the intention to pay him prior to moving out of the premises as they had earlier communicated and had experienced delays in finding alternate accommodation, hence they hadn’t moved out as planned at the end of August. “Following this incident, our client wrote a letter to AMCON informing them of the incident. Subsequently, Uche and Ezeamama went to the same police station and reported that our client’s personnel had forcefully gained entrance into the building. The police, realising that our client had written AMCON, backed off the case and dismissed all parties,” he narrated.

The attack: VM was told that on the morning of September 8, 2016, some Nigerian military personnel, led by Uche, allegedly invaded the office apartment, manhandled and harassed the staff and destroyed office furniture and other property belonging to the tenant before forcing them out of the premises. A young man who worked on the premises before the incident,also narrated thus: “The soldiers asked us to move the office furniture they had damaged from the office on the third floor downstairs. On my second trip down, my colleague arrived at the office. One of the officers asked for her phone, and she declined, stating that the officers did not have any right to ask for her phone. The officer got angry . The second officer asked me to take the accountant’s documents downstairs. I complied and left the room. On getting back, I saw the senior officer breaking the tables. He then ordered his boys to take the broken furniture downstairs. “This continued till every item in the office was removed”. Ezeamama reacts: But in his reaction, Mr. Felix Ezeamama, a lawyer and solicitor to the property, disavowed all the claims made against him, dismissing them as an attempt by the tenant and his Counsel to blackmail him and whip up sentiment. According to him, there was an issue of non-payment of rent between him and the tenant which had dragged from April to September and the issue of AMCON taking over the property because of non-payment of mortgage loan. Non-payment of mortgage loan Mr. Ezeamama who spoke to VM on phone, said the tenant who had been asking for time to renew his rent since April suddenly came up around June to say that he had decided to move out of the property in August and he would pay up to August. He said sometime in July, the tenant came to him to say that he was no longer moving out of the premises in August as earlier decided, that he would now move out in September and he would pay up to September. He noted that towards August ending, he sent his agent to the tenant to ask for the rent, but instead of the tenant to pay, he said Ezeamama had no right to ask for rent from him because AMCON had restrained property owner and his agents from interfering with the management of the property henceforth until the determination of the case in court. According to the solicitor: “I asked my agent to go and tell him that I am not saying that he should pay the rent to me, but to the property’s account which he knows or to AMCON. He did not pay into either the property’s account or to AMCON. And we didn’t know that the tenant had started moving out his property out of his office until our agent went to the premises one day and discovered that the tenant had moved out most of his belongings from the office apartment.

Thinking that the tenant had moved out, the agent decided to get padlocks to lock up the office and came to report the matter to me. Invitation to the police station The tenant got to the office after our agent had locked up the place, and on seeing the door into the office padlocked, the tenant, without finding out what happened, went straight to Ikoyi Police Station to report that we had locked him and his staff out of their office. “We were invited to the police station. When we got there, we explained what happened and we were advised to go and settle the matter. But the tenant insisted he must move out of the premises. At this juncture, I asked our agent to go to the office to take inventory of all items being taken out by the tenant. The agent came back with a list of items taken out by the tenant which was duly signed by the tenant. “So, the story that he sent thugs to forcefully eject the tenant and vandalised the office was not true. Our agent informed us that he took precaution to ensure that tenant signed for the property they were moving out of their office. As I talk to you now, the tenant is begging to return to the property. If we forcefully ejected the tenant and vandalised the office according to his claim, will he be begging to come back to the property?. We told him to clear the outstanding rent before he talks of coming back. That is where we are now,” Ezeamama stated.