By Damiete Braide
A businessman, Chief Emeka Agba, has accused the management of 1004 Estate Home Owners and Residents Association (HORA), Lagos of victimisation and high-handedness following the alleged disconnection of electricity supply to his apartment.
Agba, who uses the apartment as corporate headquarters of his business, lamented that the unlawful disconnection of power without explanation, when he was not indebted to the estate management, had disrupted his business, leading to the loss of millions of dollars, as he has been unable to work in the office.
He said despite making several calls to the estate’s chairman, Mrs Lara Ademola, and informing her of the development, there has been no positive response to restore electricity supply to him.
Agba claimed he was a target of the management of the estate, given his role in leading the protest to the inefficient management of the estate despite the huge amount of money paid by tenants yearly.
“They have collected a lot of money from us running into billions of Naira in the past five years, saying that they are renovating the estate. Every year, they increase the service charge, saying they want to improve the outer look of the estate.
“They increased the electricity tariff by 100 per cent, but we are still buying light because we can’t do without buying light. I think this is their way of silencing opposition and critics.
“From my encounter with other residents they have dealt with, this is what they do to you when you start asking questions about how money is being spent and why they are not having meeting with residents of the estate. If you start asking these questions, they will cut your light and if that is not enough, they will cut your water. If I had known this is how they operate here, I wouldn’t have bought this property,” he said.
Mathew Ibadin, Chairman, Community Development Association (CDA) 1004 Estate, also condemned what he described as the dictatorship tendencies of the management of the estate.
Ibadin decried the lack of accountability in the management of the estate, saying charges are fixed arbitrary without imputes from tenants, alleging over N15billion has so far been mismanaged.
“There is no meeting for residents to sit down and agree on their service charge and there is no single accountability to the people that reside in the estate. Whenever a resident asks for accountability, they will cut off his light, cut off his water, and disconnect his sewage. That is the instrument of coercion that they are using against people who ask them for accountability,” Ibadini said.
Reacting, Chairman of the estates, Victoria Island, Mrs Lara Ademola, said:”Honestly, I wish that I can speak to you on this matter but my hands are tied. First of all, am not involved in the daily operations of the running of this estate. He has taken us to court, why should he now talk to the press, I cannot talk.”
When Operations Manager, HORA, Vincent Thomas, was called on phone, he said: “For me, I don’t know you and you are a stranger to me; I don’t talk to strangers before you would write bla bla bla, so that is my position.”
Few minutes later, Thomas called our reporter and said: “The case about Chief Emeka, I would have given you the answer that you need but this case is in court. Giving you any answer is not good so, I will give you, our lawyer’s number so that you can speak to him on the issue.
When Solomon, a lawyer to the Hora was called on phone, he said; “ I am not an in-house lawyer but an external counsel. What I know is that Chief Agba has gone to court and the matter is in court.”