Woman Blames London Based Landlord For Burgled Apartment

A resident of No. 27 Odusi Street, Fola Model, Idimogun, in the Ogijo area of Ogun State, Ejike Uzor, has accused her landlord, Jamiu Abas, of having a hand in the burgling of her apartment last week.

According to her, the two occasions her landlord called from London, he threatened that he would gun down anybody he found in the house once he returned, adding that the house belonged to him and not to his sister, Olorundara Giwa, aka Iya Laolu, whom the tenants relating with.
 
The tenant stated that what baffled her most was the alleged threat by Abas that he would use his connection to get her out of the house.

Uzor stated, “My apartment was burgled after the man’s calls. I am sure his sister wouldn’t agree with him on that. But this was what happened. I do not owe them a kobo.

“What I later gathered was that the woman did not remit the rent we paid to her brother. Abas did not know how much we paid as well as the length of our tenancy.

“I got to know this when the man’s wife called me from London and she asked me how much we paid and how many years we were going to stay in the house.”

She stated that when the burglars first broke into her visitors’ toilet and stole bags of electrical cables that cost a fortune, she informed Giwa.

Uzor added that the burglars struck the second time around noon and gained access to the rooms through the ceiling and stole the money she kept in a wooden safe for the purpose of renting another apartment as well as her clothes and those of her husband and son.

Uzor said the December deadline she agreed with the landlord’s representative and the community development association chairman to quit the house had not expired when the trouble started.

“Where will I get money for another accommodation now? They have taken everything I had, including the money I put in the wooden safe, with the hope of renting another apartment to save my life and those of my family,” she said.

When contacted, Giwa denied Uzor’s allegations, saying her brother could not descend so low to organise the burgling of his tenant’s apartment.

She admitted that the woman paid a year’s rent, but when a decision was taken to renovate the house, she was asked to move out by December.

Giwa stated that she was in London when the alleged burglaries took place, adding that she had not been to the house since she returned.

She said, “The woman is telling lies. We met the landlords’ association with the woman and we agreed to give her till December to stay in the house.

“About the burglaries, I can’t conjecture how my brother will come from London to organise that. This is unimaginable.

“She called me and told me that some people broke into her apartment and took the money she wanted to use to rent another apartment and accused my brother of having a hand in it.”

Uzor told PUNCH Metro that she reported the matter at the Ogijo Police Station and some policemen were detailed by the Divisional Police Officer to accompany her to the house, adding that they took photographs of the scene.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, did not answer calls made to his mobile telephone and had yet to respond to a text message sent to him on the matter.