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By Christopher Oji
The Doherty family of Lagos has sent a Save-our-souls to Inspector -General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo- Olu to save them from the hands of a woman who allegedly wants to forcibly take over the property they leased to her.
Also, pleading for the IGPs and Sanwo- wolu for quick intervention are: two tenants in the property that has become a war zone as armed security agencies, especially the police have continued to harass and intimidate them on daily basis. At a press conference yesterday in Lagos, Babajide Doherty, representing himself and his two sisters ,who maintained that they own the disputed property at 50A ,Doherty Industrial Estate, Morrison Crescent, Alausa, Ikeja, told how his family leased the property for 50 years, but the tenant they leased the property had gone ahead to change the property document to her name.
He said the woman did not only change the document to her name, but has allegedly rented the property to other tenants, violating the agreement they had on leasing.
“The property was transferred to my two sisters from the same mother and I in 2019, after the death of our father. Before it was handed over to us, my family had leased the property for 50 years with a 10 year review to CTSR Properties Limited , to be paying N475,000, but the owner only paid N250,000 since and has not paid any other money to us.”
Tracing the genesis of the matter to 2014, Doherty said a Deed of Sublease was executed between the trustees of the estate of late Chief Doherty as lessors and the woman as lessee. The 50-year sublease, according to him, was divided into five terms of 10 years each, with a fixed annual rent of N250,000 per acre for the first 10 years, amounting to N445,750 per annum for the entire 1.795 acres.
But he alleged that she paid only an initial sum of N250,000 and defaulted on the outstanding N198,750 for that year. No further rent payments were reportedly made to date, according to him.
“Part of the warehouse was secretly subleted to third parties, including Wow Creamery Limited for $69,000,000 under a three-year sublease and to Svengali Designs Limited for N25,000,000 under a one-year lease, without our consent, violating the lease.
“When we approached the court to revoke the lease, she started filing false police petitions to harass us. Thugs invaded the premises and disrupted operations.
“ While legal action to reclaim the property is ongoing at the Lagos High Court in Suit No: ID/ARR/2860/2024 before Justice M.O. Daudu and Suit No: LD/4201LM/2023 before Justice O.O. Ogunjobi, we discovered that another person was presented as the bona fide owner of the property.
“ Based on this manoeuvre, they moved in commando style to execute the judgment, chased away tenants, locked up the premises, and removed equipment worth millions of naira. A bulldozer was also brought in, which demolished part of the warehouse roof, causing malicious damage.
“Given the severity and pattern of deception, fraud, and criminal damage involved in this matter, we are calling on the IGP to prevail on the Police at Alagbon to launch an immediate investigation into this harassment. Those found culpable should be prosecuted to the full extent of our laws to prevent innocent Nigerians from falling victim to such criminal activities.”
According to a tenant, Anselem Tabansi of Svengali Designs Ltd., he leased the warehouse for N25 million per annum in late 2021 through an agent. Despite efforts to meet the owner before paying, he was told by the agent that the owner did not like interfacing directly with tenants.
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A twist emerged three months later when he received a letter from a lawyer informing him that the agent had no authority to lease the property.
He said:“Attempts to meet the real owner were rebuffed, and instead, we got letters threatening lease revocation. Suddenly, policemen came and arrested us over false allegations of issuing dud cheques. We were also intimidated by EFCC officials. It has been a nightmare.“They came with policemen and thugs who ordered everyone to leave the warehouse. They removed the roof, and on that day it rained heavily. All the furniture was damaged.
.In n one instance, a court bailiff and some policemen stormed the warehouse to enforce eviction orders. While the matter was at the FCID Alagbon, another team of policemen stormed the warehouse again. But for the intervention of FCID officers who got wind of it, the thugs on ground would have brought down the entire warehouse.
“ In two occasions, they brought a bulldozer to demolish the warehouses but were stopped, although part of the warehouse was still pulled down. They even tried using manual tools to break in. It has been endless stress. We have invested so much and all we want is to run our business peacefully.”
Another tenant, Mrs. Zainab Akingbeyin, who runs a furniture company, spoke of fear and constant disruption,”Since we moved in, there has been no peace. Thugs come in, steal diesel, break our power generating sets and damage equipment. I am even afraid to go there now,” she said.
The distraught parties said a restraining order was pasted on the property, but alleged that the woman ignored it. They also claimed she never appeared in court in the ongoing suits filed against her and was unreachable, as she kept changing her phone numbers.
The landlords and tenants therefore, called for a full investigation by the Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Lagos State Government into what they described as a fraudulent takeover attempt.
Police Public Relations officer ( PPRO) for the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Alagbon, ASP Mayegun Aminat, confirmed that investigation was still ongoing.
However, efforts to reach the woman at the centre of the controversy failed, as calls to her phone after the briefing were not answered.
Meanwhile, police detectives from the FCID, have arrested some policemen who allegedly provided cover for thugs attempting to demolish a warehouse in the property in dispute.
it was gathered that the policemen allegedly acted on the prompting of the woman claiming ownership of the property.
The policemen allegedly gave cover to some Thugs who reportedly stormed the warehouse complex last week; chased out business owners, destroyed goods—mainly furniture—and partly demolished the structure before the intervention of the FCID team.
