‘We were treated like criminals, with our belongings scattered in the street’
By Job Osazuwa
For Mr. Godfrey Uchenna Eze and Alhaji Moshood Kolawole Jimoh, these are not the best of times. The two former directors with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) claim their worlds are currently clouded by fear and frustration.
August 6, 2016 is a day they won’t forget so easily. It was the day a band of hoodlums allegedly broke into their apartments and destroyed their belongings. In the process, the hooligans reportedly carted away money and assorted valuables.
The two ex-directors also accused the thugs of unleashing mayhem on their loved ones.
The victims told Daily Sun that street gangsters on that day laid siege to their Strabag Estate residence at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Ikeja, Lagos. They alleged that their tormentors, who molested them like common criminals, were acting on the orders of NAMA.
Before their retirement, the two had worked as senior management executives of NAMA. Following the invasion of their apartments, Eze, who retired as a director in charge of Safety and Electronic Services (SES) and Jimoh, a former General Manager (Administration), quickly sought the intervention of ‘Operation Mesa,’ a crack squad of military personnel, who rounded up the hoodlums and handed them over to the police for prosecution.
The retirees lamented that after serving the country, they were yet to receive their retirement benefits. As a result of the non-payment, Eze said his colleagues and himself had been passing through excruciating pain, shock, anger, anxiety and financial distress, in addition to the hoodlums’ assault on them.
“The brazen threat to our lives and destruction of property has cast a gloom on our children and family, who have been traumatised and are heavily bruised,” Eze said.
As the victims were recuperating from the first attack, the thugs were said to have returned few days later to further torment the same occupants. The matter, as gathered, was reported at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Police Station.
After the incident, Jimoh said he had been receiving treatment for shock and chest pain at the Air Force base Medical Centre, Ikeja.
However, the retirees insisted that the aviation agency could not evict them from the apartments until pending issues relating to their entitlements and benefits were resolved by the Presidential implementation Committee (PIC). The PIC is saddled with theimplementation of selling government quarters to statutory tenants as part of the monetisation policy of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
The retirees claimed that PIC sold expression of interest forms to them at the cost of N10, 000.00 as part of the preliminary processes and implementation plan for sale and transfer of the apartments.
Despite the fact that the provisional clearance was allegedly given to the ex-directors by the presidential committee, FAAN and NAMA were accused of reversing the policy. The retirees suspected that the agencies’ act might have prompted NAMA to forcefully evict them from their apartments.
Narrating his ordeal, Eze said the agency was unjust, wicked and inhuman in its resolve to forcefully evict him from his Flat A21, Osita Okeke Street, Strabag Quarters. He described NAMA’s action as illegal, and he supported his claim that there were contending issues in his retirement as well as being entitled to the first right of purchase of the official quarters he resides in sequel to the monetisation policy of Federal Government.
He didn’t only challenge his retirement from the service four years ago, he lamented that the agency was yet to pay his gratuity despite a ruling by the Federal High Court, Lagos.
Eze said: “NAMA attempted to forcefully evict me and my family from the quarters in 2013 but the move was resisted because there was no eviction notice from a competent court of jurisdiction or the police and court bailiff. For a matter the court is yet to fully give a verdict on, the actions so far taken by NAMA amounted to jungle
justice and taking the law into its hands.”
The reporter learnt that the thugs who invaded the estate allegedly broke the wall at the back of Eze’s apartment and forced their way into the living rooms, where they shattered the windows and the steel burglary proof, before throwing the furniture, beddings and electronics into the street.
Eze was said to be attending a security and electronics equipment expo in Abuja when the invasion took place. His son, Osita, said he was besieged by an official of NAMA (name withheld by us) and other unidentified persons, who assaulted him and another member of the family.
Eze said: “That Saturday morning, I drove to the house and was held by the invaders, among whom were NAMA personnel. They prevented us from entering the apartment and I had to run across the street for safety. I have been under serious threat by unknown persons since the attack while my wife is in shock and pain.”
The senior Eze also narrated: “From my assessment, the thugs stole from my house 2, 500 Euros, $1,600 and N250, 000 as well as my wife’s jewellery. They also stole some yet to be determined foreign currencies, belonging to my son, Osita, who is an instructor at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State.
“When I arrived in Lagos, I drove to the Domestic Airport Police Station, to report the incident. I have written a petition to the Commissioner of Police and the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in-charge of Zone 2 on this matter. I am challenging this matter in court, and will not give up; no matter what NAMA management is up to, until the matter is resolved by the highest court in the land.”
He regretted that efforts by the police to resolve the matter over the years yielded no positive result.
According to him: “The police sent their men to investigate the wanton destruction of the house, but I was surprised that the same Force came up to say that NAMA had reported a matter against me.
What has become intriguing is that after I reported the matter to the police, two female police officers were assigned. They drove with me to the house to take photographs of the activities of the thugs. I was asked to report to the station next day, only to be told that NAMA management had reported a case of assault and property damage against me. I was taken to a Magistrate Court in Agege and arraigned on a four-count charge. The judge granted me bail but I could not perfect the conditions until the following day when I was released.”
He said he had taken the matter to the Supreme Court and motion of notice had been filed and duly served on the agency since July 15, 2016. He said if the court judgment turned out to be against him, he would gladly vacate the apartment. Eze vowed to resist any form of jungle justice and abuse of power by an agency to evict him from the
house.
Also venting his anger on NAMA, Jimoh, who left the agency on February 6, 2015, faulted NAMA for arresting him along with Eze. He said what NAMA management did was contrary to the position of government, regarding the sales of staff quarters to sitting civil servants as tenants.
Said he: “While in service, I was involved in this matter as clerk on behalf of NAMA in the programme monitored by the PIC on the sales of operational quarters. Many years ago, the PIC issued forms for expression of interest to some residents. They sent their officials and verified our details, inspected the houses and we were only waiting for the letter of award of bid to buy the houses.”
In a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, Retired Civil Servants of Aviation Parastatals in Strabag Estate led by Chief Thaddeus Obidike, the retirees had complained of threats by the heads of the aviation agencies, including FAAN, NAMA and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA), to evict them from their homes.
The petition dated June 30, 2016 reads: “Commissioner, you may recall our earlier letters and discussions with you, as legal sitting tenants at FAAN quarters. We have filed a suit against the agencies, which is pending in the Federal Industrial Court, Lagos, over the refusal of some of the agencies to implement monetisation policy of government in residential quarters.
“You may also wish to note that the Justice of the Federal Industrial Court has since issued injunction, restraining the agencies and their agents from evicting or harassing us in any form until the substantive suit is determined.
“We will resist any attempt to evict any of our members illegally or without being served all the requisite notices and due process of evicting a tenant under the law. Our prayer is that you prevail on the agencies not to take the law into their hands.”
A senior official of NAMA, who confided in Daily Sun, said the agency, had for a long time, served quit notice on the occupants and had recently taken further steps to recover government property from retired personnel “who have been hanging on to legal technicalities since 2012.”
The official, however, declined to comment on the payment of gratuities and other entitlements due to the retirees, claiming he had no official permission to comment on the matter.
When the NAMA’s spokesperson, Mrs. Adetona, was contacted by the reporter, she said she was not on duty and as such, could not speak on the matter. She promised to send her colleague’s phone number to the reporter. But she didn’t fulfil the promise at the time of filing this report.
Also, calls and text messages sent to the Managing Director of NAMA, Mr. Emma Anasi, were not responded to.