Emeka Ike who was thrown out of the building he rented for his St. Nicholas school few weeks ago has said he is about to sue his Landlord for N2b. Emeka Ike was ejected from the building after refusing to pay his sick 87-year old landlord for several years. The man took him to court and the court ejected him. Emeka not satisfied has said in a new interview that he will be suing him and also confirmed he has moved his school to the Island.
Full GistEmeka Ike's Landlord reveals why he sued the Actor. It is my property, but Emeka threatened to deal with me over it. He refused to pay his rent, and yet wasn’t ready to evacuate, despite my condition, the old man said. The
Sunnewsonline after speaking with the man also spoke to the actor, but he wonders why the media is interested in his private life. Oh well… The story after the cut.
This is certainly not the best of times for Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike who has been thrown out of his rented apartment in Magodo GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, over his inability to pay an accumulated three year rent of N8.5 million.
The apartment, a twin duplex located at 1, Raji Oladimeji Street, Magodo GRA, was until his ejection, used by Emeka to run his business.
Like all other professionals at the peak of their career, Emeka had in 2007 diversified by establishing a secondary school named St Nicholas College and decided to hire the premises on a five-year lease agreement from an 87-year-old retiree, Chief Samuel Agboola Akintan at the rate of N2 million per annum for the first two years and N3 million annually for the remaining three years, bringing the total rent of five years to N13 million.
Saturday Sun gathered that Emeka was able to get his landlord accept a deposit of N2 million with a promise to pay the rest later. Trouble, however, started when a year after moving in, the popular actor began to default and at a point issued a dud cheque of N1.5 million.
Determined to redeem his public image, the star actor has, however, said he is not broke, adding that his ejection was an injustice which he is ready to sort out in court.
To force Emeka to pay his money and eject him from the property, Chief Akintan through his company, SamakInvestments Ltd, had to drag the actor to the Ikeja Magistrate court.
Without much delay, the court had on November 22, last year ordered the actor to vacate the premises but his refusal to heed the order led the court Sheriff to carry out execution of the judgment on January 24 this year when his property was thrown out.
Speaking to Saturday Sun, the octogenarian chairman of Samak Investment Ltd, Chief Akintan wondered why the actor chose to be a pain in his neck. He said that he has sympathy for the Nollywood star, but “unfortunately, Emeka doesn’t have sympathy for himself.”
According to him, his company leased the property to the actor on June 1, 2007. Before then, he said he had never heard of Emeka’s name as his children were the ones that told him that he’s a nollywood actor.
He said: “I never knew this gentleman from Adam. He just came to my house with his wife and I was worried about who he was and my children came to me, saying, Emeka Ike, we know him daddy; he is a nice gentleman. That is how I fell into his hands.”
He said the recommendation from his children made him enter into the lease agreement of five years which was to expire in 2012. According to him, “he was supposed to pay for the first two years N2 million each per annum and the subsequent three years N3 million per annum. The total rent for that period of five years should be N13 million. He paid N2 million for the first year and never paid again until three years later when he paid another N2.5 million. Even this N2.5 million was a tug of war before he could pay it. So, out of N13 million, he paid only N4.5 million and the balance should be N 8.5 million.”
When he wanted to take Emeka to court, he said the popular actor begged him not to do that that he would be living up to expectations.
“When I wanted to take the matter to court, Emeka wrote a letter on February 15, 2012, pleading that I’m his father and that I should halt any court process against him. Even this N2.5 million was paid in 2011, a year to the expiration of the five- year lease. After that, he issued a N1.5 million Zenith bank, Eric Moore branch cheque in my name, dated May 20, 2012, which bounced.
“Some people advised me to take him to Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria police; I refused because this boy is a young boy like my son, why would I do that to him; that he should leave my property.”
The relationship got worse from that moment. “After the cheque bounced, my lawyer called him over the phone, he started abusing me, threatening to deal with the lawyer and me. I never looked at what he was owing me in the past but should pay this N1.5 million. If I were to calculate his arrears, he has to pay far more but I am just satisfied with this N1.5 million.”
It was another round of battle when the matter eventually shifted to the court. Unfortunately, it was learnt Emeka’s lawyer simply identified as Bashir stopped attending court sessions at a point.
“The magistrate became frustrated. The last he came, he appealed that the matter be settled out of court. The magistrate in her own initiative transferred it to multi-door court, Igbosere. They gave us appointment but Emeka didn’t honour it.
“I can’t walk, so the two times I went there, I was carried like a baby to the court and Emeka didn’t come, but my lawyer went there three times. The magistrate at Igbosere wrote back to the one at Ikeja to go ahead with the matter since Emeka didn’t come.
“We went back to the first court and after several adjournments, neither Emeka nor his lawyer put up appearance and we were asked to give our evidence and we did, thereafter, the judgment was delivered.
“To give Emeka another opportunity, we got judgment in November 22, but the magistrate in her wisdom said we should give him one month to enable him to get himself together and move out. We were supposed to take possession by December 20, 2013 but we didn’t until January 24, when the Commissioner of Police gave us three policemen led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police to follow the Court Sheriff to eject him. They ejected him and put his property outside.”
When Emeka heard of this unsavoury development, he was said to have gone to Magodo police station and reported that thugs invaded his property after which the police arrested the two guards the landlord had stationed there.
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