The controversial market
Traders at the New Balogun Ultra Modern Market are left stranded following an eviction order by a new ‘landlord’
Like the proverbial grass that suffers when two elephants wrestle, traders at the New Balogun Ultra Modern Complex in Lagos Island are currently groaning under a forced eviction from a place where they earn their living.
Tenants at the three-storey building with 220
shops were sent packing on April 3, 2013 following the execution of a court injunction that reportedly declared the Balogun Okolo family of Lagos Island as the original owners of the land that was for a long time a subject of litigation.
Some of the traders told our correspondent that they had just renewed their tenancy with sums running into millions of naira for leases of between 20 and 25 years before the eviction.
We revealed that the land, on which the complex was built, was given to a development company called Vizen by the Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency about seven years ago to build the structure on Build, Own and Transfer basis.
It was gathered that a prototype for the complex was also given to the developers. The original complex was gutted by fire.
The lease was to last for a period of 25 years, while the contract was said to have been signed under the administration of former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu, in 2005. The new complex was inaugurated by the incumbent, Mr. Babatunde Fashola in 2007, while tenants moved in later the same year.
It was learnt that Vizen leased some of the shops to the traders with the assurance that they would not leave the complex until their leases expired. The development company was also supposed to manage the complex through a maintenance manager, whom the traders said they had not set eyes on since the problem started.
Trouble was said to have started around 10:30am on the April 3 when three trucks of armed policemen, court bailiffs and members of the Balogun Okolo family stormed the complex and asked the traders, most of who sell clothing materials, to leave the premises within 30 minutes. The complex was locked up afterwards.
One of the tenants, Ngozi Eze, said she had paid N5.6m a few months before the incident occurred with additional N200,000 for the certificate and bank interests adding up to N7m for a two-year rent.
Eze and the other traders said they took loans from banks to pay for the rent and had yet to pay back.
“If you add everything up, you will see that I am losing almost N10m in one year and I am not even sure of the ownership of the property. Nobody told us told us there was a court case, I wouldn’t have invested my money here; it was after we paid our rent that the omo oniles came to meet us. Does this now mean that people can’t confidently invest in government property?” she asked.
Another trader, who preferred not to give his name because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he rented some of the shops from an original tenant for N6m for a period of 20 years, and was just beginning to gather money to pay back the loan he took for the purpose.
After the forced eviction, the traders said they went to the Lagos State House to lodge their complaint with the governor, but were met by two members of the state House of Assembly, who assured them that everything was under control.
According to Eze, it has been exactly two weeks since they were asked to leave and nothing has been heard from government quarters or the developer.
Rather, she alleged that members of the family came to the complex and asked them to pay N720,000 each before they would be allowed back into the complex.
It was gathered that some of the traders, who were apparently tired of standing outside the complex and losing money daily, had started paying the said amount and exchanging bank tellers for what seemed like a receipt.
However, some of the traders like Eze now use makeshift shops in front of the complex for their business.
Another trader, Mrs. Margret Afolabi, said she had spent all her savings renewing the rent and had no more money to give the new landlord.
She, however, appealed to the state government to work out a plan of relocating them to a new complex.
When contacted, the Managing Director, Vizen, Mr. Kola Esomojumi, who disclosed that his company spent about N1.5bn on developing the structure, said the last time he was at the complex, it was locked up.
He said the concerned parties had lodged complaints with the state government, adding that he was optimistic that the negotiation would favour all the parties involved.
Esomojumi said, “We had a stakeholders’ meeting before the land was given to us to develop for a long lease of 25 years. Some of our tenants are on annual tenancy, while others are on long leases. We have already made complaints to the state government on the development.
“On Friday, we went to the state House of Assembly, but unfortunately, we couldn’t meet with the governor or his deputy; so, we presented our letter to the Speaker proposing that the complex should be opened, while the negotiation is on. Of course, the government, I believe, cannot deny the fact that it gave the land to us and promised to rise to our defence in the event of any problem.”
On a visit to the Balogun Okolo family, our correspondent met the members in a meeting. Although the head of the family simply addressed as Oloye was said to be unavoidably absent, some members, however, offered to speak on the issue without giving their names.
The family alleged that LASURA took over the complex eight years ago and gave it out to a developer, who in turn started leasing the shops without their consent. It also alleged that most of the traders knew about the litigation before investing in the complex as some of them were tenants to the family before the fire incident.
“Urban renewal took the land from us and when we couldn’t do anything, we went to the High Court and won the case. They took the case to the Appeal Court and we also won; and finally, they went to the Supreme Court and we won also. We wanted to take possession of the land earlier but the state government prevented us and later asked us to take over,” one of the family members explained.
The family said it had no case with the traders, alleging that the state government had asked them to comply with what their new landlords wanted.
“The Lagos State Government has asked them to cooperate with us after insisting that we comply with the state’s tenancy rule of taking one year’s rent. We have asked them to obtain forms identifying us as their new landlord. We are not taking agency and commission fees, all we want is one year rent from them, then the gate will be opened for normal business,” the family representative said.
He, however, declined to comment on the rent and any further action on the issue, saying the family was not concerned about whatever amount the traders had paid to Vizen.
Efforts made to speak with the General Manager of LASURA were not successful. The agency’s Public Relations Officer was said to have lost his mobile phone, while a female employee in the public relations units could not get her boss to react despite several attempts.
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