Victim of illegal eviction gets redress

Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday condemned the illegal eviction of a civil servant from her  apartment, ADE ADESOMOJU reports

With the judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday, there could still be hope for victims of illegal demolitions or evictions.

The victim, Mrs. Olamide Ogungbe, who is an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, was ejected from the Federal Government’s staff quarters at 5A, Sasegbon Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos in April 2010.

She subsequently sued the Minister of Works and Urban Development, Implementation Committee on Alienation of Federal Government Landed Property and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The plaintiff had been denied the right of first refusal by the Urban Development, Implementation Committee on Alienation of Federal Government Landed Property before the property was later sold to a third party.

Delivering judgment, Justice Abang held that the refusal of the committee to offer the property for sale to Ogungbe, in line with the guidelines before selling it to a third party, was a violation of the plaintiff’s right.

The government had claimed that anyone whose allocation letter came after April 1, 2004 was not entitled to being given the right of first refusal.

The defendant had claimed that the plaintiff was disqualified as “a legal sitting tenant” because her allocation letter was dated January 31, 2005.

Meanwhile, the plaintiff had been living in the government quarters on Ladoke Akintola Street, GRA, Ikeja and paying the rents along with other necessary charges since 1992.

The property at 5A Sasegbon Street, GRA, Ikeja, was said to have been allocated to her through a letter dated, January 31, 2005, when she assumed higher status.

But the committee, despite instruction from the office of the Head of Service to grant the plaintiff the right of first refusal, maintained that the guidelines did not provide for exchange of houses.

But Justice Abang held that the plaintiff was robbed of justice by the committee through the wrongful interpretation of Clause 15(3) of the guideline.

He held that the interpretation given to the guidelines was in conflict with the intention of the makers.

He said that if the tenant was still living on Ladoke Akintola Street, she would not have been affected by the claim that her allocation letter to a new apartment disqualified her.

He said, “Her change of accommodation cannot make her lose her status as a legal tenant. She only applied to be given a new place to suit her status.

“The action of the second defendant (Implementation Committee on Alienation of Federal Government Landed Property) is distasteful and was done in bad faith. It ought not to have received payment of N66m from a third party for the property and should have offered the plaintiff the right of first refusal.

“The action of the second defendant was oppressive, high-handed and depicts gross abuse of powers.”

Justice Abang awarded N10m damages in favour of the plaintiff and ordered the Federal Government to restore her back to the property from which had been forcefully evicted.

The judge described the refusal by the government to give her right of first refusal over the property before selling it to a third party as an act of highhandedness.

The judge declared the sale of the property, located at 5A Sasegbon Street, GRA, Ikeja, null and void.

He ordered that the woman be allowed to take possession of whatever structure that might have been erected on the piece of land if the original one had been demolished.

He directed the respondents to comply with the housing guideline by offering the plaintiff the right of first refusal for the purchase of the property.

“The plaintiff is restored to possession of what is on the land. An order is hereby made ejecting anybody found on the land. Whatever is on the land becomes part of the land,” the judge held.

The court also awarded the plaintiff N230,000 being what she spent transporting her property from Ikeja to Sagamu after her ejection.

The judge said although the plaintiff deserved compensation for hotel expenses that she incurred after her ejection, he could not determine how much she paid, as the receipts she tendered included money paid for meals.

According to the judge, it is not expected of the court to assist the plaintiff to work out how much was actually paid for the accommodation and the amount for feeding.

He said the defendants were not expected to pay for the plaintiff’s feeding, as she would still have had to feed herself and her family members even if she had not been illegally evicted.

The judge also said the plaintiff could not be compensated for the destruction of her belongings found in the house and on the premises in the process of evicting her as she failed to give credible evidence which the court could rely on.

In awarding the N10m damages in favour of the plaintiff, who had actually requested N100m, the judge said, “No proper notice to quit the premises was served on her.

“Her self-esteem was lowered in the eyes of the public. She was disgraced and thoroughly humiliated, after 25 years of meritorious service, as if we are in a country where there is no law and order.

“The action of the first and second defendants was without reasonable and probable cause.”

Justice Abang said the rule of law must remain the guide of all persons in the country, describing the ejection as “distasteful and reckless”.

“It’s reprehensible to the extreme and shows gross disrespect to the rule of law,” the judge added.

The plaintiff, an Assistant Director in the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, had sued the defendants for illegally ejecting her from her staff quarters at 5A Sasegbon Street, GRA, Ikeja.

She said in April 2010, over 30 armed soldiers working for the second defendant invaded the house, held her and her children hostage for 12 hours, and forcefully ejected them.

According to her, the defendants subsequently demolished the building, and in the process of the demolition she lost N1m and other valuables in the house.

She also said her belongings, including various forms of machines, worth about N10m, were destroyed in the process of evicting her.

She added that she was traumatised and was subsequently admitted in the hospital following the forceful ejection.

Many times, victims of illegal demolitions or evictions do not get appropriate redress in court

In a judgment delivered on November 11, 2013 by a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja on the case of a demolition of an estate comprising 372 housing units at Lugbe Extension 1, along Airport Road, Abuja, Justice D.Z Senchi had ruled that the owner of the estate, Minanuel Investment Ltd, remained the rightful owner of the land, which the court held could not be arbitrarily revoked from the firm.

But on the other hand, the judge ruled that the structures on the land were illegal and that authorities had not violated any law by demolishing it. The court therefore dismissed the prayer of the plaintiff seeking N5bn as special and general damages.