Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Fake court order throws family into streets
By Bamidele Osha
Reporter, Lagos
For Mr. Everest Anyawu and his family, it was a
tragic affair last Friday as court officials allegedly carrying out orders of a
Lagos Magistrate court forcefully threw their property out into the morning
rain.
Anyanwu, a native of Mbaise in Imo state, his wife
and two children were forcefully ejected by the “court officials”
accompanied by two plain clothes policemen as a result of an agreement with his
co-tenant Emeka Onyaduru, also a native of the same town, which was said to
have gone awry.
According to an eyewitness account, the officials who
introduced themselves as court bailiffs had called at the flat of the Anyanwus,
which they shared with Oneaduru, said to be a bachelor at about 6.30am and
broke the news of their intention to evict him.
Totally bemused by the visitor’s presence at
his house at such an odd hour and their intention, Anyanwu was said to have
demanded on what authority they had come to carry out the order since he was
not in court with anybody.
The visitors were said to have produced a court order
to that effect, prompting Anyanwu said to be a businessman selling clothes at
Mandilas market along Broad Street in Central Lagos, to go and invite other
neighbours to come and intervene into what was unfolding to an obvious
unpleasant drama.
The neighbours were said to have equally demanded the
court order and on examination reportedly found that it did not have an
official stamp of any court. But this was said not to have deterred the
“court officials”, who were busy throwing Anyanwu’s property
out of the flat, despite the protests.
The policemen were said to have prevented the
neighbours from taking photographs of the Anyanwu’s property being thrown
out, but a “clever” neighbour was said to have succeeded in recording
the incident, which is said to have become an ample evidence of the entire
operation.
Amid the confusion, the neighbours were said to have
advised Anyanwu to contact the police and he reportedly invited men of the Bode
Thomas police station who on arrival reportedly conferred with their colleagues
and thereafter advised Anyanwu to go and seek the advise of his lawyers since
the incident was a legal matter.
An attempt by Daily Independent to talk to both
parties in the dispute failed as they were said to be out.
But a source close to both said the problem started
as a result of who is to move out of the flat they both shared with the
expansion of the occupants. Onyeaduru is said to be making arrangements to
bring in his new wife into the flat after his wedding, which is said to be
close at hand, which was the reason why he wanted Anyanwu out, the source said.
They were both reported to have actually reached an
arrangement about one party moving out in the event of such expansion, but the
source could not say how this would be achieved or who would be expected to
vacate the flat for the other.
Meanwhile the property of the victim of the eviction
have been deposited with kind-hearted neighbours, while the wife and children
are said to have taken temporary abode with Anyanwu’s relations somewhere
in Victoria Island.
The neighbours who appeared disturbed by the incident
complained about not only the judicial system, but the circumstances under
which the eviction was carried out. “Is very bad what has happened. Both
of them are from Mbaise. They attend the same family meeting. How can this happen
when the issue could have been settled amicably among them and among the
family”, one of the neighbours said.
