Tenant drags landlady to court for refusing to sell her house to him
A tenant named Ademola Onitiju launched a lawsuit against his landlord after she refused to sell the house to him, but the high court in Lagos dismissed the case.
Theodosia Ogunnaike, the landlady of a four-bedroom duplex in Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi, was sued in 2021 by Onitiju, a former air commodore and lawyer, for selling the house to someone else after their initial discussion.
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The 59-year-old tenant, who moved in to the apartment in December 2015, claimed that he was given first dibs on the property but did not immediately pay for it. Onitiju claimed that he was initially requested to pay N170 million for the property but that he instead offered to pay N90 million, which the landlady declined.
The retired airforce officer said during the renegotiation process, he sold two family properties to enable him to match the purchase price of N135 million which was later requested for. He said he asked for a bank account detail to pay the purchase price, but he was not provided with any until the property was sold out to one Samuel Dare, a retired colonel.
Onitiju admitted that the defendants did not ask him to sell the two family properties, “but they did by conduct when they insisted on the N135 million purchase price”. He also told the court that he does not have evidence of where the N135 million was lodged.
The tenant asked the court to set aside the sale of the property to the retired colonel.
Ogunnaike, a widow, said the property belongs to her daughter but she was managing it for her. The landlady said Onitiju used to pay his N4.5 million annual rent to her bank account and the rent was not increased during his stay, while they had a cordial relationship.
The landlady said the offer to buy the house was first made to Onitiju, but he did not have money to pay. Then, she terminated the offer made to the retired airforce officer after he made two counter offers of N90 million and N1oo million, and the sale of the property was thrown open to the public.
In her ruling on June 20, 2022, Bola Okikiolu-Ighile, the presiding judge, said Onitiju’s evidence before the court did not support any of the reliefs sought by him, and his case was bereft of facts. She subsequently dismissed the case.
“I find it difficult to grant any of the reliefs sought in the claims (i)-(vii). The claimant shall relinquish possession of the property to the new owners forthwith,” the judge ruled.
Onitiju has, however, appealed against the judgment.
