She made sex advances at me, has a lover visiting her in the day, another at night —Landlord

Chief Johnson Omole, a landlord, has dragged his tenant, Idayat  before Court ‘A’ Customary Court Mapo, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State for owing him a four-month rent arrears starting from October 2021 till date.

Omole through his agent, Alhaji Adekunle Hassan, thus filed an eviction suit against Idayat.

Omole prayed the court before evicting her, to order that she paid both the house rent she was owing which is N2,000 per month and the accumulated electricity bills.

Idayat agreed that she owned the plaintiff the stipulated rent arrears but disagreed that she should be sent packing.

The defendant asked the first witness, Hassan where he wanted her to move to if she was forced out of her apartment.

Hassan the first witness told the court: “My lord, Idayat has defaulted in the arrangement for the payment of her house rent.

“She pays N2,000 per month for the room she’s occupying and was expected to pay for a year, but she failed to do this.

“I made Idayat understand that the landlord, being a retiree depended on the rent for survival but she remained insensitive to his plight.

“I served her a quit notice on 23 January, 2021 and another one on December 8, 2021. (He presented the photocopies of both as exhibits).

“My lord, I pray the court to rule that Idayat move out of the room she’s presently occupying and pay the rent arrears she’s owes, “he stated.

Omole said, “Idayat knows that I am old and retired, but she still denies me my means of survival.

“She came with a man, Alhaji Salami to rent a room in my house. This man paid the rent for a year and a half.

“Alhaji Salami who I later understood was her lover was always coming to her place during the day, but suddenly I started seeing another man coming in the night. The second man would sleep overnight and leave the following morning.

“The first night this second man came, he walked pass me and some other tenants who were around without a word of greeting and made straight for Idayat’s room.

“I accosted him and demanded to know who he was.

“Idayat heard me speaking on top of my voice and rushed to the scene. She came to his rescue and led him into her apartment. He became a regular face every night since then.

“I only know one of  Idayat’s son  apart from these two men.

“My lord, Idayat went as far as making sexual advances at me but I ignored her. I told her that apart from being raised from a Christian background, I’m disciplined and don’t engage in adultery.

“She ridiculed me, saying I was living in the past.

“My lord, Alhaji Salami her lover who was always visiting her in the day suddenly stopped coming and that was when she started owing house rent.

“She has not paid any other rent apart from the one he  paid on her behalf.

“My lord it is evident that Idayat wants to take my house from me. She threatens to send me out of my house and take over my possession.

“I don’t want her to stay a minute longer in that room. I want her to pay the rent she owes me and this in addition to the electricity bill.

Idayat in her testimony explained that, “It was my brother in-law and not my lover who came with me when I wanted to rent the room in question from my landlord.

“He initially refused that I had the room when I told him I was a widow. He told me he doesn’t rent rooms to single women which was the reason I brought my brother in-law along with me the second time I approached him.

“My landlord lied that he doesn’t know my children. I explained to him that I wanted to rent the room because of my children most especially my last born whose school is nearby.

“I live in this room with my five children.  I, therefore, don’t understand how possible it was to bring in lovers there with my children around.

“It is my eldest son and not lover that I open the door for late at night because he closes from work late.

“My lord, I paid another one year rent after the first was due.

“A few months ago, he pasted a quit notice on my door and I have been pleading with him since then to bear with me because business is slow.

“Any time I appeal to him, he would ask me to go and sell my body.

“I have been searching for a new place, but I have not been lucky with one. I will move out of his house immediately I get one, “the defendant said.

The court president, Mrs S.M Akintayo, after listening to the three adjourned the case till February 15 for judgment.