How Landlord Has Been Scaling Fence Into His House After Blocked By Neighbour For 15 Years

MICHAEL AKINOLA

Freedom of movement and unhindered access to Citizens may be a mirage for a landlord, Martin Egbunihe who has been blocked access by fellow landlord,   Ishola Idowu for the past 15 years in Igando, Lagos. 

The house in question is located formerly  at 45, Nureni Agbolagbade Avenue,  now 45, Alhaji  Kareem Paku , off Alhaji  Ede  bus stop, Igando,  Lagos State.

The landlord, Ishola, Idowu, who returned from USA wanted expansion of his story building, took  advantage of Egbunihe's absence from his house due to vehicle accident he had, blocked street access to his property,  despite protests from the landlords Association members.               

  Mr Ishola who had thought Egbunihe will die in the accident quickly erected the fence to cover Egbunihe's own building to take over his building.

However, Egbunihe did not die after spendin several weeks years at Orthopaedic and eventually recovered.

          
When Egbunihe recovered and went to inspect his house, he discovered that Ishola  has used fence to block entrance to his house and when he confronted him, Ishola asked him to sell his house to him or he will not have access to his own house.
The alleged provocative and unlawful actions by Idowu was said to have been reported to the original family land owners of the area, who after confronting Idowu without success,  in collaboration with some residents took the matter to the Oba of Igando,  Oba Gbadamosi.                                                                   
The Oba, who allegedly was aware of issues surrounding Idowu’s  purchase of land in the area,  intervened  and set up  a committee , which agreed in their deliberations that  Idowu must pull down his obnoxious fence blockade, hindering Egbunihe from having access into his house.                                                                                 
Ishola who allegedly is notoriously  in the area for his reckless flaunting of his wealth and boasting of his high contacts in government, allegedly disregarded the  Oba’s committee decision which the Oba’s peace committee report compelled Egbunihe to petition the Lagos State government, through the office of the Physical Planning on the  2nd  of  October,  2013,  which was responded to  by the same office on 18th February,  2014, through a letter signed onbehalf of the  Permanent Secretary in the  Ministry , by (TPL ) Mr. Adams  Raji,( PTPO Technical Service Department).                    
The Ministry subsequently despatched a team led by Mr. Murtata  Adekunle  Balogun which the physical planning officers marked the controversial fence illegal and ordered for its demolition .                   However, the physical planning office was yet to demolish the said blockade, as residents alleged that they were compromised by the same Idowu .                                                                                     
For several years, Egbunihe has been trapped as two of his neighbors constructed their fences on one end and a building on the other end, thereby preventing him in and preventing his vehicle from gaining access to his home.                                                                 
Egbunihe , also alleged that  Idowu Ishola built a fence on a portion of the road set aside by government , as the  entrance to his property , thereby,  leaving inadequate space for his cars to  go through.                                                                                                                                      
According to him,  ” Idowu’s fence is illegal and had been  declared so by the Lagos State Ministry of Physical  Planning and Urban  Development , which had marked the said fence for demolition, as it contravened building regulations. ”     

Egbunihe said: "For over 7 years after,  Idowu has failed  , neglected and refused to act ,despite all entreaties, potential tenants have refused to rent my property because of the limited access,  thereby rendering the building fallow.”                                                                                                                              
In his petition,  he said,  ” I bought two plots of land located at the above address, from the Igando community,  receipted and surveyed , my property used to be accessed from the  Southern end but when the government  expanded and  fenced  Alimosho  General hospital,  there was a common access left  adjacent to number 43,  which was my former second plot on the same  street, now taken away from me by Mr. Ishola Idowu. ”                                    

“I had started developing part of the land in 1994, after surveying the two plots before I had a ghastly motor accident,  which took me away to an orthopaedic  hospital in  Enugu State,  where I under went  series of  surgeries  for more than one year and survived. ”                                                              
“When I recovered and rejoined my family in Lagos,  I visited the  property and discovered that one out of my  two plots of land ,  have been collected by one  Mr.  Ishola Idowu and he had started building,  living one part on which I built a three bedroom flat .
I struggled and made several efforts to recover the  plot , as I went and  consulted the  Oba of  igando,  the  Oba pleaded with me to accept my faith and develop the one plot that I had already started work on.When I went back for medical check up at the  Orthopedic hospital in Enugu, before i  returned,  Same Mr. Idowu had constructed a  fence and  blocked  an entrance  to my remaining plot of  land,  thereby, denying me access to my house ”                   
” I invited the Igando community ,(omo –  onile )land sellers and landlord Association, who went to discuss with Mr. Idowu.”                                                                                                        
“After all efforts failed,  the Igando community  and  land seller gave me a space from another  street  called ‘ Naiyeju ‘, adjacent to my house,  about  15 feet wide,  as an alternative way to enter with a car ,which  I immediately put a small gate , about 3 to  4 feet  from my  fence to the space”.                        

“surprisingly,  one man by name Mr.  Raphael ( A.k.a  Baba  Laide, a block maker whose office was very close to the space,  went and built three rooms on the space that was given to me as an  alternative and blocked me from  Naiyeju street.”                                                                                                           
“For over 15 years now,  I have been pleading with  Idowu and  Baba Laide  with  cartoons of drinks and money,  to release about 8 feet of those lands , to  allow a vehicle to enter into my compound but all efforts proved  abortive .”   
Egbunihe in tears, said that he even offered to pay for the 8 feet land space that ought to be his own and  even rebuild Idowu’s fence but to no avail .                                                                                   
He noted that besides ignoring the  directives from the Ministry of physical planning and Urban Development ordering him to demolish the fence  blocking him,  Idowu has also shunned  similar directives by the  Citizens  Mediation  Center  in  Alimosho  Local Government Area , as well as instructions by the  Oba of  igando.                          
Responding,  Idowu had told Journalists  that  Egbunine Claims were false and ridiculous , Challenging him to go to court.                                                                                                      
However,  he did not deny the  fact that the  Ministry had marked his  fence for demolition.
It was yet certain why the Ministry of Physical planning has refused to remove the fence so that Egbunihe will have access to his house over the years.