Juliana Francis
An angry landlady identified as Tedia, has attacked her tenant’s door with a machete, forcing the tenant and his family to barricade themselves inside for fear of being killed.
The tenant, Pastor Emmanuel Adeyemi, has been having alternations with Tedia over the occupancy issue, leading to the matter being taken to court. But before the court could hear the case and give a verdict, Tedia took matters into her hands by attacking Adeyemi’s door with a machete.
While the woman was carrying out this drama, the couple video-recorded her.
In one of the videos, a voice was heard reminding Tedia that the matter was still pending in court, but she snapped that no court had the right to tell her how to run her compound.
This reporter had earlier reported the prostrated altercation between Adeyemi and Tedia, whereby the woman wrote a petition to Area M Police, which made the police arrest Adeyemi.
Before the lady dragged Adeyemi to the police, the matter had already been domiciled at Esther Child Rights Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, which mediated in the matter.
At the NGO, Tedia was asked to give Adeyemi a proper quit notice, but she allegedly refused and instead went to the police.
It was from the police station that the matter was charged to court. The matter is still in court when she attacked with a machete on the 5th of October 2022.
Another video also emerged, where she pounced on Adeyemi, and repeatedly slapped him, with the latter attempting to dodge the slaps.
According to Adeyemi, trouble started after the landlady asked them to vacate their apartment without telling them. Meanwhile, she had earlier told the Chief Executive Officer of the Child Rights Foundation, Ms. Esther Ogwu, that she was “experiencing spiritual attacks.”
A few days ago, when Tedia attacked their door with a machete, Adeyemi ran to Afonka/Shasha Police Station, which was the nearest station, to report a threat to life.
Policemen came, but Tedia refused to come out of her apartment and also refused to honour the Police invitation.
Rather, she again ran to Area M Police, alleging that Adeyemi with his wife ganged up to beat her.
Wielding her power as a landlady, she also padlocked the main gate leading to the couple’s apartment, thereby barricading them inside the compound.
Adeyemi said: “It was on Wednesday 5th October 2022 that she attacked our door with a machete, destroying many things. If we had not locked ourselves, she would have attacked and probably killed someone. I went to Shasha Police Station to report when policemen came, she refused to come out of her apartment to meet them. On Friday, 7th October 2022 two policemen came from Area M, saying their commander wanted to see my wife and I. My wife said it was not right for the two of us to leave the house. I went with them.”
When they got to the station, he was told that Tedia wrote a petition against him, alleging that he and his wife beat her up.
Adeyemi narrated: “I told them to tell her to prove that I touched her, let alone my wife. I played one of the several videos with me and when the policemen saw it, they were just looking at one another. One of them asked her if that was her wielding a machete, and she said yes. I wrote my statement and then the Area Commander arrived. Before we were ushered into his office, he had already seen the video. He asked her what had happened, she started telling stories. When she claimed that we beat her up, the Area Commander asked her why she didn’t come to the station to report immediately, so that welts on her body would have been her evidence. She claimed that she had to pick a kitchen knife because my wife and I beat her, but the Area Commander told her that what he saw in the video was a machete, that her intention was to kill if she had gained access to the apartment. The Area Commander said he would have charged her with attempted murder and malicious damage. Still, he would simply ask her to write a letter of undertaking, that she wouldn’t go to our apartment again, and that she wouldn’t trouble us until we got another apartment. Afterwards, the Area Commander asked her to excuse us, he told me that the woman was not all right, that for the safety of myself, my wife and children, we should move out of that apartment.”
When they returned to the office where Tedia was supposed to write the undertaking, she refused, insisting that Adeyemi should first withdraw the matter that was already pending in court. Adeyemi refused, and the police told her that nobody would leave if she did not write the undertaking. She eventually wrote it.
Recollecting the genesis of the troubles, Adeyemi said: “We rented that apartment last year in January and then by September, she came to tell us to leave after our rent must have expired. We were shocked and she didn’t give us quit notice, she only said it verbally. I asked what happened. I had spent a lot on the house and I had just registered my children in new schools around the area.”
Adeyemi said the video, where Tedia was wielding a machete and ruthlessly attacking their door and damaging things had been seen by many Nigerians, eliciting outrage, with many calling for her arrest and prosecution.
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