Date: 2021-07-09

A magistrate's court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday ordered one Alh Abdulfatai Ajibola, the tenant occupying the Guest Chalets of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), to vacate the facility with immediate effect.

The court also odered that the tenant should evacuate the property and hand over possession to the Kwara State Council of the NUJ.

In the judgement delivered by Magistrate AbdulMalik Magaji, the court also ordered the defendant to pay to the NUJ, the sum of N40,000 being the cost of electricity incurred while in possession of the property.

The court said the council was in order by all its earlier notices of 'rent liquidation' and subsequent termination of the lease agreement with the defendant, saying they are now 'tenant at will'.

The council had in November 2019 taken Ajibola, who is the tenant managing NUJ Guest Chalets, bar and restaurant, to court for falling to hand over possession after expiration of his lease agreement.

Counsel to NUJ AbdulRaheem Ismail had submitted before the court that all the action, evidence and documents tendered by his client were in line with the law.

The counsel prayed the court to grant all the prayers of the petitioner which was granted by the court.

The matter had lingered on for more than one year due to the shutting of courts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and industrial action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) which prevented the courts from sitting.