I’ve complied with court order on rent payment – Osun Commissioner

• Dares FHC judge to publish judgment

Ayotunde Phillips

Osun State Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Special Needs, Stephen Kola-Balogun has challenged Justice A. F. A. Ademola, the owner of a 3 bedroom detached house he once occupied at No. 51C, Oduduwa Crescent G. R. A. Ikeja to  publish details of a judgment recently delivered by a Lagos State High Court.

This, Kola-Balogun said has become necessary following recentmedia reports on the matter, which he considered misleading.

Kola-Balogun, in a statement, said the sum of N5.5million awarded by the court had been paid and an affidavit of compliance to that effect had been duly filed. The payment and affidavit, according to him, now forms part of the court records.

The commissioner said Justice Ademola, who is a sitting judge of the Federal High Court (FHC) Abuja, must publish the judgement and show where it was ever stated in it that he was compelled to pay rent of N5.5Million or risk being in contempt of court.

According to Kola-Balogun, what the trial judge in the matter, Justice Adefope-Okojie said was that “possession having already been given to the claimant. I award in the claimant’s favour the sum of N5,500,000 (Five Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) being mesnes profit at the rate of N2million per annum from 1st August, 2009 until delivery up of possession in April, 2012. As this said sum is long overdue. The same shall be paid within seven days of today.”

The commissioner said his stand before the court was that the yearly rent of the property up to the time the premises was vacated was N2million per annum, while Justice Ademola was insisting on an annual rent of N3.5million per annum.

He added that  Justice Ademola suddenly increased rent from N2m to N3.5m, a 75% increase.

Concerning the report published in some national dailies recently, the Commissioner stated that the verdict was actually in his favour, saying the court ordered him to pay the precise amount he alleged was due for the period he stayed over while the matter was pending in court.

Kola-Balogun alleged that, it appears the judgment was deliberately twisted to smear his image.

He further explained that throughout the duration of his tenancy, the claimant (Justice Ademola) had the habit of serving him notice to quit towards the end of each tenancy year, in order to enable him renegotiate the terms of the tenancy.

He also claimed that the claimant never once issued him a receipt for rents paid throughout his stay at the property and when he protested what he described as this rather unscrupulous behaviour to his colleagues, the claimant proceeded to court to ask for both possession and a N700,000 increase on his N1.3m annual rent at the time.

However, after the action was filed, Kola-Balogun said he conceded to the Claimant’s N700,000 increase and paid the sum of N2m as annual rent.

He said the parties also agreed that by the said payment, the action will be discontinued in court, but upon payment, he said the claimant did not discontinue the action, but instead unlawfully increased the rent once again to N3.5million (a 75% increase), whilst the action was pending in court.

As a result of this, Kola-Balogun said he stopped paying rent, leaving the court to determine the actual amount due to the claimant.

The judgment shows that the defendants offered to settle out of court prior to and after vacating the property, but that the claimant refused because he wanted close to N12m in arrears at the rate of N3.5m per annum which the court eventually found the claimant was not entitled to by virtue of his oral and documentary evidence.

Justice Adefope-Okojie, in giving her judgment stated: “I have found this case quite disturbing, as it is a case that I believe should not have had to resort to litigation, being a simple case of tenancy. “It has however passed through four (4) judges of the High Court of Lagos State, with this court being the 5th court. “Indeed this court, upon inheriting the case from Hon. Justice Y. Idowu attempted settlement of the matter, to no avail.”

Findings also reveal how that the matter would not have been concluded, but for the defendants’ determination to once and for all put this case behind them by graciously agreeing with the court Registrar to abridge time in order to enable the court dispose of the matter once and for all before Justice Adefope-Okojie’s elevation to the Court of Appeal.

Also, by the judgment of the court, the name of the Commissioner’s Wife, Taiwo, who was joined as second defendant in the matter was struck out by the judge, saying “from the correspondence before the court, the tenancy is between the claimant and the first defendant. I accordingly strike out the name of the second defendant as party to this action.”

This, Kola-Balogun insisted was a pointer to the fact that the said publications in the press were unfairly tilted in favour of the claimant and queried “why leave out such a major aspect of the judgment which expunged the second defendant’s name?”