84-year-old Mrs Esther Jesulanke had many things going for her before she lost her husband a few years ago. But even at that she still goes about with a compelling urge not to let go what belongs to her family.
Her age notwithstanding, she drives herself and has a high sense of articulation. One would wonder where her strength comes from. She is quick to say, “I give God all the glory”
Though a pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, she used to run a contract business that took her to Abuja regularly which made her stay in hotels.
But a friend like a daughter counselled she needed to get an apartment in Abuja instead of checking into hotels every now and then.
The lady eventually took her to one Hon. Mohammed Jega, a lawmaker.. He is director at Taulahi Investment.Nigeria Ltd.
Jega showed Jesulanke an apartment which she paid for in instalment. She was given all the title documents of the house thereafter.
That gave her the confidence that she had finally passed the hurdle of securing a fitting apartment only to discover that she had just moved into what would later cause her sleepless nights and days running into years.
The press conference
She recalled at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday September 25: “One day I just discovered that somebody had broken into the house when I was not around. I wondered who could have done that.
“Upon investigation I was told Senator Osita Izunaso was the one who masterminded the incursion into the house. He said he had a court judgement that declared he was the real owner of the house.”
That narration brought her to tears. She recalled how she moved into the property and the investment she put into the house to make it comfortable.
But she did not enjoy the house for more than three years. By 2012 after the initial incursion into the property, she began to get strange visitors and threats by foot soldiers allegedly from Senator Izunaso who is currently representing the Orlu West Senatorial zone of Imo State at the National Assembly.
The property is a Terrace Duplex Situated at Block D 16a, Falt Zone D (1st Gate) 20, Moses Adasu Close, NASS Quarters, Gudu, Apo, Abuja according to documents made available to reporters at the press conference.
How they drove her out
Jesulanke continued, “They were always coming to the house. They wanted me to leave the place. At one time, they were even coming to stay in the compound overnight. The threat was so much. But I refused to let go of the property.’
But on one occasion in 2015 when she had to travel out of Abuja to attend a programme some hoodlums allegedly representing Senator Izunaso from what she gathered moved into the house forcefully, removed her things and prevented her from gaining access to the house.
Till date, she said she does not know what happened to her belongings adding that the senator later came to remove the roof of the house and renovated the house while also renting it out
Jesulanke said it took so long for her to cry out about the matter because the case has been in court. The senator was acting on a high court judgment in Abuja to do all that he did.
According to Jesulanke she was not joined in the suit when the court that gave Izunaso the judgment sat on the matter.
The parties involved were Mrs Grace Inyang who is the original owner of the property and the Senator Izunaso as well as the property agent she bought the property from.
The presiding judge in the case, which held at the High Court of Justice, Abuja, Honourable Justice A.M Talba had ruled on October 10, 2012 that the original owner of the house had breached a sales agreement with Senator Izunaso and that his “claims succeeds’
One of the three claims of the senator in his application was that the sale of the property to any other person other than him was of no effect whatsoever.
That was the judgement that made Senator Izunaso lay claim to the property thereby forcefully ejecting Mrs Jesulanke.
The genesis of the crisis
Upon investigation, Jesulanke discovered it was true that Senator Izunaso had earlier indicated interest in the property.
He was said to have paid an initial sum of N5 million for the property which was to cost N35 million. He had issued another cheque of N30 million with an instruction to his bank not to release the money until the title documents of the house were released.
The loophole that he harped on was the agreement he allegedly reached with Mrs Inyang, the original owner of the house, that the.title documents of the house would be available to him so he could sight them at the payment of a deposit of N5m.
But the owner of the house, Mrs Grace Inyang who is now late, reneged because she needed more money to pay the mortgage she got from Aso Savings and Loans to secure the house. Without paying the loan the bank was not ready to release the title documents. She also needed money to buy another property in her country home.
Senator Izunaso however refused to pay the balance of N30 million. He was holding to the initial agreement that Mrs Inyang would make available the title documents to ascertain the authenticity of the house after N5 million had been paid.
Since Inyang needed money urgently she sold the property to Hon Jega, who later sold it to Mrs Jesulanke
N50 million paid for the property
While claiming she paid a sum of N50 million for the property to the agent, Jesulanke emphasised that, ‘The information at my disposal is that the senator could not meet up with the payment for the property. And since the owner needed money urgently she sold it to a property agent. I later bought it from the agent unaware the property had issues.”
It was after Mrs Inyang, the original owner sold the property to Hon.Jega that Senator Izunaso sued her and joined the buyer in the case.
A petition written by Mrs Inyang before her death to the Nigerian Bar Association had indicted her lawyer, one Barrister Victor Okangbe for “gross negligence, breach of trust and professional misconduct”
She said in the petition, “without giving Okangbe power of attorney, he “conned a prospective buyer (Osita) into parting with a part payment of the purchase sum, which I had set. N5 million out of N35 million, and unfortunately, while Okangbe was doing so, my nephew brought me a prospective buyer.”
She said she had refunded the N5 millon paid into her Asso Savings and Loans account and had received debit alert indicating the money had been withdrawn.
“I received an alert from my bank account when Barrister Victor Okangbe withdrew the said N5 million, and I believed him to have returned the same to Senator Osita Izunaso, but then to my greatest surprise, I was informed of a suit against me by Senator Osita Izunaso at the FCT high court before Justice Talba seeking redress against me for breach of contract to sell my property to him, among other reliefs,”
Hon.Jega sold property to Jesulanke
Hon Jega in a recorded telephone chat confirmed that Mrs Jesulanke bought the property from his company.
He said, “I bought the property from Mrs Inyang who was a Chief Magistrate in Abuja and I was not aware that Senator Izunaso had anything to do with it. The property has a Certificate of Occupancy which is with Mrs Jesulanke who bought the property from me. There is no doubt about that.’
A high court ruling by Hon Justice A.A. I Banjoko had also in a judgment on October 21, 2019 between Taulahi Investment Nigeria Ltd where Jega is a director and Senator Izunaso and Grace Inyang upheld that on the 14th of February 2009, records show that Taulah Investment executed an “irrevocable’ power of attorney on the property in favour of Mrs Esther Jesulanke
Jesulanke however lamented that Senator Izunaso has used state power to stop her from occupying her property despite being in possession of all relevant documents.
She said she had appealed the case that gave Izunaso the right to take possession of the house.
Rather than stay of execution, “Osinazo went to the supreme court to enforce the judgment of the high court but the case was thrown out for abuse of court process since the case was still pending at the appeal court’ said Jesulanke.
Visit to Osinazo
Jesulanke said she once went to Izunaso’s house in Abuja to appeal to him and his wife. ‘it was God who made me see him the day I went to his house. I moved to his sitting room and saw him and his wife.
“I appealed to him to let me have access to my property. He was shocked and wondered how I gained access to his house. He later asked his security men to lead me out.’
Mrs Jesulanke is appealing to all who matter in the judiciary and the FCT to help prevail on Senator Osinazo to allow her access to her property.
Beyond being thrown out of the house she is still at a loss about her belongings.
She said, “I renovated the house, and bought furniture from Bedmate from Lagos which was transported to the house. All the rooms in the house had air-conditioners. But both the furniture and all the electrical gadgets in the house are nowhere to be found.
Response of Senator Izunaso
Senator Izunaso in an interview however denied having anything to do with Mrs Jesulanke.. “I don’t know her. I did not even know she was living in the building before she was evicted.
“The person who bought the property from Grace Inyang was Hon Jega.. He was the one living in the house before she sold it to Mrs Jesulanke. I did not even know it was sold to Jesulanke until the case was taken to court
Izunaso.saod, .”I don’t know her. I made a down payment for the property to Mrs Grace Inyang who now resold it Hon Jega. Technically I don’t have any dealing with Jesulanke. It was when Hon Jega got to know the property was under litigation that he sold it to Mrs Jesulanke.
“The old woman should be dealing with Hon Jega not me. I got a court judgement that says the property rightly belongs to me and it was the court bailiffs that removed her property from the building not me.’
While agreeing that he only made a part payment for the property, he said he had already started the transaction before Mrs Inyang sold it to Hon Jega.
‘it is true I made a part payment of N5 million with which Inyang used to collect the documents of the house from the bank she was owing. It was after she had collected the papers that she reneged on our earlier agreement about the cost of the house.
” She wanted more money but I insisted she had to stay with the earlier agreement. She then went ahead and sold the house to Hon Jega.’
Osinazo said it was Inyang’s lawyer that encouraged him to go to court over the matter because she breached a sales agreement .
He explained further that after he got a court judgment in his favour he paid the balance of N30 million for the house but that Mrs Inyang refused to collect the money perhaps because the house had been sold to another person. The cheque was deposited with the court.”
He stressed that the person Mrs Jesulanke should be dealing with should be Hon Jega who sold the house to her..
Izunaso who felt unhappy with the development said Mrs Jesulanke once reported him to the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. “there is nowhere the woman has not taken this case to. She once reported the case to former VP Osinbajo.i think she went to the same church with him and there mentioned that I had deprived her of her property.
“Osinbajo invited me over the matter and.we discussed. I told him I had no dealing with the woman. It was Inyang who sold the property to me and later sold it to Hon.Jega who sold it to Mrs Jesulanke. When I got a court judgement in my favour the bailiffs took over the property.’
He said the then VP being a lawyer refused to give further attention to the matter because according to him it was clear he had no dealing with Mrs Jesulanke.
He said the matter had also come up on Berekete, the social media Ombudsman platform and everybody saw that the person Mrs Jesulanke should be dealing with should be Hon Jega who sold the property to her.
He explained further that there were attempts to settle the matter rather than making it a court case.
‘The commissioner for police in Abuja once tried to settle the matter. I was asked to make an additional payment of N10millon to the N30 million cheque I dropped at the court so the money could be paid to Mrs Jesulanke to compensate her. We agreed to that. But she came later and said she was not going to concede to that arrangement that she wanted the house.
