Lagos tenants allege unlawful eviction by new property owner

The building under siege

A group of tenants at No. 5 Association Avenue, Ilupeju, Lagos, led by Mr. Vincent Uba, has called for urgent government intervention over what they described as persistent harassment, unlawful arrests, and detention by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force from Zone 2 Command, Onikan.

Uba, who spoke on behalf of five other tenants during a press conference, alleged that two of his co-tenants had been unlawfully detained for over five days following their arrest, despite a subsisting court order restraining any forceful takeover of the property.

According to a notice to quit dated May 10, 2025, signed by Adewumi Opaleye, Administrator General and Public Trustee of the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, the tenants were given just seven days to vacate the premises.

The letter reads in part, “The Administrator General and Public Trustee, Oyo State, as the administrator of the Estate of Late Samuel Ogundele, which includes the property at No. 5 Association Avenue, Ilupeju, Lagos, which you occupy as a tenant at will, hereby gives you seven (7) days’ notice from the date of service of this letter on you to quit and deliver up possession of the said apartment and the appurtenances thereto.

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“Please note that failure to quit the said apartment will be met with appropriate legal action.”

Uba, however, expressed shock at the duration of the notice.

“We were all referred to as ‘tenants at will’ and given just seven days to vacate. I was shocked upon reading the notice and asked why we were given only seven days instead of the legally acceptable six months,” he said.

He claimed that during a meeting with the lawyer representing the purported new owners, he protested the notice and left when she insisted the seven-day notice was valid for tenants at will.