Delta Court Awards N500,000 Against Landlady, Police Over Assault On Tenant

A Delta State High Court sitting in Otor-Udu in Udu Local Government Area of the State on Tuesday awarded the sum of N500,000 against a landlady, Mrs. Gloria Oriako and the Nigeria Police Force.

DAILY POST reports that this was over unlawful arrest and detention of a tenant, Mr. Francis Doye for his failure to pay his rent.

The Court presided over by Hon. Justice F.N. Azinge in his ruling also granted an order for perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from further arrest and detention of the tenant.

Immediately after the judgement, Barr. Omemiroro Ogedegbe in a statement claimed that his client, Francis Doye who, was a resident at a building owned by Mrs. Gloria Oriako in Jeddo Community in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State was in arrears of rent for three months being July, August and September 2017.

In a statement titled, “In the matter of aggravated assaults occasioned by Jeddo Community youths on Mr. Francis Doye under the supervision of Police Officers of Ughoton Police Post at the behest of Mrs. Gloria Oriako”, the lawyer claimed that whenever his client and other tenants were indebted to Madam Oriako, she was in the habbit of using community leadership to harass them.

Ogedegbe claimed that his client, who was in arrears of rent to the landlady was summoned before the community executive wherein he was made to pay five thousand naira only and a bottle of Gordon Gin as summon fee, before he was given seven days ultimatum within which to liquidate the debt.

He further claimed that “upon the indebtedness of his client again to the said Mrs. Oriako, he was by an invitation summoned to appear before the community leadership and was as usual mandated to appear with the usual summon fee which was not handy at that material time, hence he did not appear but pleaded with the said Mrs. Oriako to exercise patience as the sum of thirty thousand naira only was paid two days before the letter was served on him.”

Ogedegbe stated that “Mrs. Oriako stormed the house of his client with three persons whom she claimed are community executive on the 30th of September 2017, being environmental sanitation Saturday at about 8am and invited Francis Doye to the house of the Unuevworo (Duke) of the Community where he was subjected to the highest degree of brutality upon his inability to pay the outstanding rent upon demand from the community executive.

“He was beaten almost to a state of coma and upon realizing our client was about passing out, they legitimized by inviting police officers of Ughoton police post and came to the Unuevworo’s house and placed him in handcuff and supervised the beating of our client and when he was eventually taken to the Ughoton police station, the D.P.O. in his wisdom, who saw the way our client was bleeding declined jurisdiction as it was a matter which was tenancy in nature, only for Mrs. Oriako to have again dragged our client to Orerokpe Police Station where he was detained till Sunday 1st October 2017.”