An 84-year old Pastor, Mrs Esther Jesulanke has cried out over what she termed undue victimisation and forceful eviction from a property she bought in Abuja in 2009 for N50 million.
Jesulanke, who addressed journalists in Lagos recently, gave a pathetic account of how she was ejected from the house with all her belongings thrown out.
The property is a Terrace Duplex Situated at Block D 16a, Falt Zone D (1st Gate) 20, Moses Adasu Close, NASS Quarters, Gudu, Apo, Abuja according to documents made available to reporters at the press conference.
She said she bought the property from Hon Mohammed Jega, a lawmaker, who is a director of Taulahi Investment Nig. Ltd.
A few years after she moved into the house, she started getting harassment from people who claimed they were from Senator Osita Izunaso who is representing Orlu West senatorial zone of Imo State
“They came to the house forcefully and wanted me to leave the place. At a time they were even coming to stay in the compound overnight. The threat was so much. But I refused to let go of the property.’ she said.
But on one occasion in 2015 when she had to travel out of Abuja to attend a programme some hoodlums allegedly representing Senator Izunaso from what she gathered moved into the house forcefully, removed her things and prevented her from gaining access to the house.
Till date, she said she does not know what happened to her belongings, alleging that the Senator later came to remove the roof of the house and renovated the house while also renting it out.
Jesulanke said she had made every effort including taking legal steps to no avail to secure her property.
She called on authorities in the Federal Capital Territory to help prevail on senator Izunaso.to allow her access to her property.
In an interview, Hon Jega confirmed selling the house to Jesulanke. He said he was not aware that the property had issues when he bought it from the original owner, Mrs Grace Inyang , who was then a Chief Magistrate in Abuja.
He said: “I bought the property from Mrs Inyang who was a Chief Magistrate in Abuja and I was not aware that Senator Izunaso had anything to do with it. I sold the property to Mrs Esther Jesulanke..The property has a Certificate of Occupancy which is with Mrs Jesulanke.’
Jega expressed worry why the 84-year old Pastor would be denied her property which she bought legitimately from him stating that all the title documents of the house are with her.
But the owner of the house, Mrs Grace Iyang, who is late, in a document made available to.jouralists at the press conference claimed she did not sell her house to Senator Izunaso because she needed more money to pay a mortgage she got from Aso Savings and Loans so she could collect the title documents from the bank and also buy another property in her country home.
In the document she accused her lawyer of complicity in the matter noting that it was her lawyer who brought Izunaso and the N5 million he paid had been refunded.
A copy of the petition written by Mrs Iyang to the Nigeria Bar Association before her demise indicted , one Barrister Victor Okangbe for “gross negligence, breach of trust and protessional.miscondict”
Senator Izunaso in an interview denied having anything to do with Mrs Jesulanke.. “I don’t know her. I did not even know she was living in the building before she was evicted.
“The person who bought the property from Grace Inyang was Hon Jega.. He was the one living in the house before she sold it to Mrs Jesulanke. I did not even know it was sold to Jesulanke until the case was taken to court
Izunaso.saod,: “I don’t know her. I made a down payment for the property to Mrs Grace Inyang who now resold it Hon Jega. Technically I don’t have any dealing with Jesulanke. It was when Hon Jega got to know the property was under litigation that he sold it to Mrs Jesulanke.
“The old woman should be dealing with Hon Jega not me. I got a court judgement that says the property rightly belongs to me and it was the court bailiffs that removed her property from the building not me.’
While agreeing that he only made a part payment for the property, he said he had already started the transaction before Mrs Inyang sold it to Hon Jega.
“It is true I made a part payment of N5 million with which Inyang used to collect the documents of the house from the bank she was owing. It was after she had collected the papers that she reneged on our earlier agreement about the cost of the house.
“She wanted more money but I insisted she had to stay with the earlier agreement. She then went ahead and sold the house to Hon Jega.’
Osinazo said it was Inyang’s lawyer that encouraged him to go to court over the matter because she breached a sales agreement .
He explained further that after he got a court judgment in his favour he paid the balance of N30 million for the house but Mrs Inyang refused to collect the money perhaps because the house had been sold to another person. The cheque was deposited with the court.
He stressed that the person Mrs Jesulanke should be dealing with should be Hon Jega who sold the house to her.
Izunaso, who felt unhappy with the development said Mrs Jesulanke once reported him to the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“There is nowhere the woman has not taken this case to. She once reported the case to former VP Osinbajo.i think she went to the same church with him and there mentioned that I had deprived her of her property.
“Osinbajo invited me over the matter and.we discussed. I told him I had no dealing with the woman. It was Inyang who sold the property to me and later sold it to Hon.Jega who sold it to Mrs Jesulanke. When I got a court judgement in my favour the bailiffs took over the property.’
He said the then VP, being a lawyer, refused to give further attention to the matter because according to him it was clear he had no dealing with Mrs Jesulanke.
He said the matter had also come up on Berekete, the social media Ombudsman platform and everybody saw that the person Mrs Jesulanke should be dealing with should be Hon Jega who sold the property to her.
He explained further that there were attempts to settle the matter rather than making it a court case.
“The commissioner for police in Abuja once tried to settle the matter. I was asked to make an additional payment of N10millon to the N30 million cheque I dropped at the court so the money could be paid to Mrs Jesulanke to compensate her. We agreed to that. But she came later and said she was not going to concede to that arrangement that she wanted the house.”
