The crisis rocking upscale residential estate, the 1004
Estates, Victoria Island, Lagos, has taken a new dimension with the sack
Maintenance Committee led by Mr. Tayo Soetan. The committee had the responsibility
of maintaining facilities on the estate.
At a meeting held at the 1004 Estates Cluster Club House,
residents said the sack of the Maintenance Committee, also know as House Owners
and Residents Association (HORA), was inevitable because it failed to deliver
value.
In Jan 2016, Mr. Soetan led a team of armed security
operatives to take over the electricity and water supply operation in the
Estate. Soetan also claimed the association won suit No LD/3744/2014 filed by
1004 Estates Limited against The Incorporated Trustees of 1004 HORA at the
Lagos High Court. He said the ruling delivered by Justice Dawodu on December 2,
last year recognised the association as duly constituted and ordered 1004
Estates Limited to render accounts of money collected to the association.
Based on the ruling, he said the association was at liberty
to appoint a facility firm for the estate and determine its fate. But a
certified copy of the ruling obtained by our correspondent showed that the
association was indeed recognised by the court based on the relief sought by
1004 Estates Limited as to whether it was the same association it envisaged in
the sub-lease contractual agreement it signed with residents.
The court went ahead to also rule that since the firm had
been relating with the association, it would not be out of place to render
accounts of its stewardship, especially on service charges collected from
residents.
The ruling went ahead to affirm that 1004 Estate Limited is
vested with the “management and administration of the Estate”. It then
said: “The defendant (HORA) is at
liberty to give suggestions and advice on management of the estate and there
should be corresponding understanding between the residents and management of
the estate.”
Mr. Tayo Soetan claimed that the N 450,000 annual service
charge proposed by Samuel Ukpong led 1004 Estates Limited was exorbitant. He
also claimed that energy tariff of N 70/KWH was also a rip off. Our
investigations revealed that after Mr. Soetan assumed management of the Estate,
he increased the service charge to N 581,000 annually and also arbitrarily
increased energy tariff to N 100/kWH without providing adequate accounts to
HORA members who he claimed to be representing.
Another major reason given for the sack of the committee,
headed by Mr. Tayo Soetan, is the squalid state of infrastructure on the
estate. Mr. Soetan was sacked along with other members of the committee that
included Mr. Ochuko Akposibure, the Vice Chairman; Mrs. Sade Babatunde, Mr.
Ehiosu Oviawe and Mrs. Femi Romiluyi. Underneath this was a variety of
allegations of misconduct and incompetence, including lack of transparency and
accountability, arbitrariness in the increase in power tariff, failure to
guarantee adequate water supply and non- provision of befitting children's
playground.
At the meeting, the disenchanted residents who claimed their
property values have been eroded also sacked IG4 Power Limited, an electricity
firm that supplied power to the 1004 Estates. They claimed the company's tariff
of N100 per kilowatt was too high. The company, they also alleged, is owned by
one Mr. Owumi Ikomi, a tenant on the estate.
The meeting, co-chaired by Mr. Soetan, also resolved to
dissolve the 1004 Estates Board Of Trust (BOT) headed by Chief Dele Ogedengbe.
It directed members of the Board to immediately vacate office. The residents
replaced the sacked Management Committee with an eight-member caretaker
committee, which will be in office for 60 days pending the constitution of a
new Management Committee.
A January 2016 Lagos High Court order returned the management
of the Estate to 1004 Estates Limited. But the order was disobeyed by the
ousted Management Committee, with one of the outcomes being the poor supply of
electricity to the estate by IG4 Power Limited.
An overwhelming majority of the residents at the meeting
insisted the estate was better managed under 1004 Estate Limited before the
takeover by the sacked Management Committee.
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