By Henry Ojelu
Nearly a year after a Lagos Chief Magistrates’ Court sentenced a landlord and three others to six months’ imprisonment for contempt of court in a tenancy dispute, the aggrieved tenants, Mr. Olusola Alabi and his wife, Mrs. Olufunmilola Alabi, have called for full enforcement of the court’s judgment.

The couple said they have continued to pursue justice following the ruling of the Magistrates’ Court sitting in Eti-Osa, Lagos, which found Mr. Lawrence Onwukwem, Mr. Davies Ijele, Mr. Sodiq Kazeem and Ms. Peace Igbo in contempt of court.

The judgment, delivered on June 5, 2025, by Chief Magistrate Kikelomo Doja-Ojo, ordered the four individuals to serve six months in a correctional centre and to pay a fine of N250,000 each.

According to the Alabis, the ruling arose from a dispute over a three-bedroom apartment with a boys’ quarters located at Block A, Flat 3, No. 96B, Ladipo Omotosho Cole Street, Lekki I, Eti-Osa, Lagos, which they occupied as yearly tenants.

They explained that the disagreement with the landlord began after what they described as a breach of the tenancy agreement, prompting them to approach the court for redress.

The matter was filed as Suit No. MISC/MCE/07/2023, while another related case involving the property was also pending before the court.

The tenants said that despite the ongoing legal proceedings, events unfolded that led them to file contempt proceedings before the court.

According to them, the court eventually held the landlord and the other parties liable for contempt after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the dispute.

The Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment obtained by Vanguard indicated that the court invoked Section 44(1)(a) of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011 (as amended) in arriving at its decision.

Part of the ruling also ordered that the tenants be restored to possession of the apartment.

“The claimant is to be restored back to possession. All belongings removed from the apartment are to be returned immediately,” the judgment stated.

Speaking on the development, the Alabis said that although the court had issued its ruling months ago, only one of the individuals affected by the judgment is currently serving the jail term.

They said Mr. Sodiq Kazeem is presently serving the sentence at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.

However, they noted that the other three individuals named in the ruling are yet to comply with the court’s directive.

The couple said they were continuing to pursue enforcement of the judgment through appropriate legal and institutional channels.

According to them, the dispute took a difficult turn while the case was still pending before the court, when they discovered that access to their apartment had been affected.

They further claimed that some of their household belongings were removed from the premises during the dispute, estimating the value of the items to millions of naira.

The tenants maintained that they decided to seek judicial intervention to resolve the matter and to protect their rights as lawful occupants of the property.

Meanwhile, Ms. Peace Igbo, whose name appeared in the court proceedings, denied certain claims associated with the case.

She said she was neither arrested nor charged for failing to produce Mr. Kazeem and also denied standing as surety for him.

“I did not sign as a surety. I was working as a secretary and HR for the firm. I was not acting as a lawyer in that instance. At the time, I was in law school in 2021,” she said.

Igbo also expressed concern about the impact the allegations had had on her reputation, insisting that she had limited involvement in the matter.

Efforts to obtain comments from Mr. Onwukwem and Mr. Ijele were unsuccessful, as calls placed to their known telephone lines were not answered as of the time of filing this report.