By Peter Ofili

Traders and other occupants of a four-storey building at Idumota Market, Lagos Island have called on the Lagos State government to stop their forcible eviction from their offices by a developer, Messres Bashiar Estate Limited.

The petitioners who alleged that the developer served them quit notice on August 29, claimed that when they got to the building in question on September 8, they found the place barricaded with zinc and charms placed at the entrance. They also alleged that the developer of the structure situated at 61, Desomu/20 Obun-Eko Streets, asked those willing to retain their shops after renovation to pay N44 million rent for five years per flat, as against the N7 million they usually paid.

Among those affected were a shoe polish firm, Afrecom Nigeria Limited, which claimed its business has been grounded since September 8 following the barricade of the plaza.

According to Godwin Eseneyen, an accountant: “Our rent is yet to expire and we have been paying to the owners of the flat before the developer asked us to vacate a place we have spent 14 years in doing our business. We were shocked when an estate development company served us a quit notice, dated August 29, asking us to quit the plaza before or on September 8, saying that it had been given the mandate to commence renovation and reconstruction on the building.

Our lawyer wrote to the developer stating we don’t know them and that our rent is still running till October. We also told them that the quit notice was too short considering the difficulty of getting a new place in Idumota.

Economic recession

“We quickly went to the owners who we usually pay to but they told us to hold on, that action was being taken. But on September 8, we came here to see that the building has been barricaded.

“With the economic recession in the country, we have become stranded as we can’t even do our business to take care of our families. We are losing our customers; we also can’t attend to them when they call. “Having spent 14 years in this building, can’t we be given proper quit notice, at least six months, to enable us get another place.

“We want government to intervene in this act of wickedness meted on us. We don’t have any issue quitting the building, but let it be done in a proper manner”.

Another tenant, who was seen packing out his wares, said he pleaded with the developer for some days to remove his goods, saying that the place was sealed a day after he was notified to vacate but the developers gave him few days to remove his wares.

“I have not secured another shop, packing my things into my warehouses. I don’t want trouble with anybody. In this market you can meet the same developers in another building,” he said.

When Vanguard Metro visited the place, some of the displaced shop owners were seen displaying their wares on the road.

A man who refused to mention his name said they were asked to pick a form for N100,000, adding that it was not a guarantee that the person will get a shop after the renovation of the plaza. The N100,000 is non-refundable.

When the developers were contacted, they denied the allegations, insisting that the sop owners were given six months grace to move out. Mr. Agboola Kamorudeen on a phone call said that the allegation of hike in rent was also untrue, declining comment on the expression of interest form.

He said: “The traders have been given the mandate in the past six months and money was not collected from them. They were written that the shops will undergo renovation and that they should not pay to anybody, which some of them have acknowledged. The family told us to tell them the renovation is for their good since it will be done before they commence December season. They came to our office for a meeting and they were the ones who told us to commence last Thursday.

Nobody complained about these issues you are telling me.

“For the polish company, the matter is at the Zone II Command and so, I would not comment on it. It is also untrue that we told those occupying flats to pay N44 million for five years. Are we selling the building to them? For the expression of interest form, that one is our business and it is not something I want to talk about. It is for those who can afford it.