The Imo West Senator, Osita Izunaso, has responded to the claim by an 84-year-old pastor, Esther Jesulanke, that he forcefully took over a property in Abuja from her, saying he had no financial dealings with her.
Mr Izunaso, who was reacting to an allegation by Mrs Jesulanke, said he bought the property from Grace Inyang, a retired magistrate, to whom he made an initial payment of N5 million. He said Ms Inyang, who is now late, fraudulently sold the same property to a former lawmaker, Mohammed Jega, who in turn sold it to Mrs Jesulanke.
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He said he had no financial dealings with the cleric, insisting that she should be dealing with Mr Jega.
Background
Mrs Jesulanke had, at a press conference in Lagos, recently alleged that Mr Izunaso forcefully evicted her from the property she bought in 2009 for N50 million.
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According to the documents she made available, the property is a Terrace Duplex situated at Block D 16a, Flat Zone D (1st Gate) 20, Moses Adasu Close, NASS Quarters, Gudu, Apo, Abuja.
She said she bought the property from Mr Jega, who is a director of Taulahi Investment Nig. Ltd.
Giving an account of how she was ejected from the house with all her belongings thrown out, Mrs Jesulanke said a few years after she moved into the property, people who claimed they were from Mr Izunaso started harassing her.
She stated that sometime in 2015, when she travelled out of Abuja for a programme, some hoodlums, allegedly representing Mr Izunaso, moved into the house forcefully, removed her things, and prevented her from gaining access to the house.
“They came to the house forcefully and 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.
“They kept coming to the house, sometimes staying overnight in the compound. The threats were unbearable, but I refused to let go. Later, I was told Senator Izunaso masterminded the takeover, claiming a court judgment declared him the rightful owner,” the octogenarian said.
She lamented that she lost all her belongings — furniture, fittings, air conditioners — during the eviction, adding that by 2015, her access to the property was completely blocked, and the house was reportedly renovated and leased out.
She said that to date, she does not know what happened to her belongings, adding that the senator later came to remove the roof of the house, renovated the house and also rented it out.
Mrs Jesulanke said she had made every effort, including taking legal steps to no avail, to secure her property.
She, therefore, called on President Bola Tinubu, the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, Chief Justice of Nigeria Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and the authorities in the Federal Capital Territory to help prevail on Mr Izunaso to allow her access to her property.
“I have suffered for the past 10 years because of the way I was pushed out. I am calling on the president, his wife, and the chief justice to intervene over this unjust eviction,” she appealed with tears.
I don’t know Jesulanke – Izunaso
But speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Izunaso said he had no financial dealings with Mrs Jesulanke.
“I don’t know her. I did not even know she was living in the building before she was ejected. 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.
Mr Izunaso stated further, “I don’t know her. I made a down payment for the property to Mrs Grace Inyang, who now resold it to Hon Jega. Technically, I don’t have any dealings 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 bailiff that removed her property from the building, not me.”
While admitting that he only made a partial payment for the property, the senator said he had already started the transaction before Mrs Inyang sold it to Mr 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,” the senator said.
Mr Izunaso, who is the chair of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, said it was Mrs Inyang’s lawyer who encouraged him to go to court over the matter because she breached a sales agreement.
According to him, after he got a court judgment in his favour, he paid the balance of N30 million for the house, but Mrs Inyang refused to collect the money, perhaps because the house had been sold to another person.
He said the cheque was deposited with the court.
He said Mrs Jesulanke should be dealing with Mr Jega, who sold the house to her.
Mr Izunaso, 59, who said he was unhappy with the development, claimed that the octogenarian once reported him to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
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“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 they mentioned that I had deprived her of her property.
“Osinbajo invited me over the matter and we discussed it. I told him I had no dealings 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 senator said the matter had also come up on Berekete, a social media Ombudsman platform based in Abuja.
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 N10 million 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,” Mr Izunaso said.
Jega speaks
Speaking on the matter, Mr Jega confirmed selling the house to Mrs Jesulanke.
He, however, claimed he was not aware that the property had issues when he bought it from the original owner, Mrs Inyang, now late.
“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. I sold the property to Mrs Esther Jesulanke. The property has a Certificate of Occupancy, which is with Mrs Jesulanke,” he said.
The former lawmaker expressed worry about why the 84-year-old pastor would be denied the property, which she bought from him, stating that all the title documents of the house are with her.
