Subscribers of Renaissance Estate in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have demanded their reinstatement to the property or payment of N4 billion compensation by the First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc for rendering them homeless.
The Renaissance Homeowners and Residents Association made the demand through their counsel, Efe Ize-Iyamu of Adeniji Kazeem & Company in a letter to the Managing Director of First Trust Mortgage Bank.
The property owners bought 16 units of four-bedroom terrace houses located on Plot 96 Bimkol Close, GRA Phase 3, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
They paid N50 million per apartment through FBN Mortgages Limited (now First Trust Mortgage Bank) in February 2010.
The lawyer wrote: “Sometime in February 2010, several units of four-bedroom flats at Plot 96, GRA Phase 3, Port Harcourt were sold to the homeowners, who subscribed to the Renaissance Homes housing scheme, an initiative of FBN Mortgage Bank Plc now known as First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc.
“They have exercised undisturbed proprietary and possessory rights over their several units until March 1, 2022, when men of the Nigeria Police Force invaded the premises in a bid to execute a Supreme Court judgment delivered sometime in January 2003 and ever since then the residents and homeowners have been homeless, dispossessed of their various belongings and have been living at the mercies of whoever may show empathy.”
The law firm accused the bank of gross negligence by not properly investigating the title it acquired from Vestor, ignoring the potential encumbrance and foisting a defective title on the Renaissance Subscribers.
It argued that a diligent follow-up search would have revealed the existence of the Supreme Court judgment even though not registered at the Lands Registry at the time.
Ize-Iyamu wrote: “As of January 31, 2003, the decision of the Court of Appeal was already reversed by the Supreme Court and then in June 2003 Vestor bought the land from Ex-Squadron Leader Obiosa. First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc thereafter bought the land from Vestor in 2008.
“In the light of all these facts, modest due diligence, going by a reasonable man’s test would have revealed that at the time your bank was about to purchase the property from Vestor in 2008, there was a court-martial judgment registered on the property.
“There was also a Court of Appeal judgment in furtherance of which Vestor then registered its interest, which would ordinarily arouse the curiosity in anyone, especially your bank, to conduct due diligence on the status of the appeal to the Supreme Court.”
The association rejected the bank’s offer to negotiate.
The lawyer added: “Our client is not interested in your negotiation with Adekanola, the claimed beneficiary of our seized property from the Nigeria Air Force, who eventually evicted our clients and as regards restoring our client back to the same property. We rather advised it would be to the interest of your client to explore a room of settlement.”
The estate’s association Chairman, Dr. Doyle Edeni, whose firm is into oil and gas services, claim to have remodelled and converted three four-bedroom facilities into a 13-bedroom facility with five sitting rooms, four kitchens, a gym, game room, a 24-seater conference/training room and three offices, all furnished to international standards to accommodate and cater to the needs of international and local Nigerian teams.
Another subscriber, Dr. George Uzonwanne, said the subscribers paid N50 million each. He said: “I bought into the estate thinking that it was a genuine property from a remarkable company.
“l have not received any apology or compensation from First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc. Security men came in the middle of the night to throw us out. I was billed to bring my family down, but l have not been able to do so.”
In response, the bank’s lawyers – Onyeke, Ideho & Ighomuaye LP – said their client sympathises with victims “over the sad and traumatic incident”.
They find the development “extremely strange, as it (the bank) had no reason to doubt the credibility and validity of the title of its predecessors-in-titles, over the land”.
First Trust Mortgage Bank’s lawyers added: “Our clients have commenced an in-depth investigation into the incident to understand how a property over which it had valid titles spanning three different predecessors-in-title could have been the subject matter of a court action it was not aware of and/ or brought to its attention up and until the delivery of judgment and execution of same.”
In another letter, the bank’s lawyers traced the history of the landed property and ownership, saying they intended to pursue some course of action that would lead to the recovery of the estate.
They stated: “First, in conjunction with Vestor Properties Limited, to engage Chief Olusola Adekanola, the purchaser of the land from the Nigeria Airforce on an amicable resolution of the matter, towards a possible restoration of the possessory rights of the subscribers of the Renaissance Apartments.
“Secondly, to commence interpleader proceedings at the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, before the same court that granted the warrant of possession, and contend before the court that Supreme Court judgment executed at the property, that the execution of the judgment by the Air Force on the order of restitution, can only be executed on the known and established property or properties of the judgment debtor.”
