Until
November 8, 2013, 38-year-old Ezeobi Okeke lived happily as a tenant with his
family at Close 39, House 2, Satellite town, Lagos. A native of Osumenyi in Nnewi Local
Government Area of Anambra State, Ezeobi, who is a freight forwarder, now
squats with friends after he was thrown out of his apartment by his landlady.
He informed our reporter that his landlady broke into his apartment in his
absence, packed his property into a waiting truck and zoomed off to an open
field in Festac town where she dumped them. But, before the ejection, he
alleged that his landlady had visited the apartment on November 5 and changed
all the padlocks, while he was away. The woman, according to him, said she had
orders from the court to eject him. She was also said to have broken into his
apartment in the presence of people who claimed to be court sheriffs.
Ezeobi,
who claimed to have occupied the two-bedroom bungalow since 2003 as a tenant
said what led to his predicament started in 2011, when he wanted to renew his
rent and his landlady suddenly refused to collect it from him. He alleged that
his efforts to know where he went wrong proved abortive as his landlady sued
him to court. But, after the legal tussle that followed, the court, according
to him, ruled that he should pay his landlady the arrears and continue occupying
the apartment as a tenant.
With the
court judgment in favour of Ezeobi, he thought the storm was over, but he was
wrong. Her landlady only waited for the most auspicious time to strike. And
that opportunity came on November 8, 2013, two years after the court judgement.
Ezeobi was taken unawares, as he claimed to have travelled to the east with his
family when the woman struck.
Now, the
young man is crying blue murder, calling on the human rights community as well
as the federal government of Nigeria and all well meaning Nigerians to rescue
him from the fangs of the woman who allegedly defied court orders to eject him
in his absence and confiscate his entire property.
