Residents of Premier-1 Residential Estate in Lekki area of Lagos State on Tuesday alleged that they resisted an attempt by sponsored thugs to break into their community on Monday morning.
According to them, the thugs were led by some staff of Lekki Gardens Estate Ltd, the property development company which built Premier-1.
They said Monday’s incident was fallout from a long-drawn battle between the developer and the residents’ association on the management of facilities in the estate and the developer’s alleged wilful alteration of the estate layout to the detriment of the residents.
But a source affiliated to Lekki Gardens Estate Ltd described the allegations as untrue and “blackmail.”
The residents alleged that the thugs and staff of the property firm arrived at the estate at about 5:30am and attempted to forcibly create access to the estate’s utility area and residential area.
They alleged that the thugs came with some dangerous weapons with which they attempted to break in before the residents’ association mobilised its members to resist the invasion.
It was claimed that the developer had insisted on electric power resale to the estate residents and control over the utility area housing the estate generators, sewage treatment plant, estate flood control pumps and holding tank.
“We have made a criminal complaint to the police against Lekki Gardens and its sister company, Coraxen, for illegal power distribution and resale business. We have made it clear that estate assets should be run by the estate association or their appointed facility management company. These are the issues for which the developer has resorted to violence,” Secretary of Premier-1 Owners and Residents Association (PORA), Dotun Adekambi, told journalists.
He added, “We had written to the police to notify them of the plan by the association to self-manage the estate and we had also written to the developer, who rather than engage with us for a smooth handover, issued us threats and called our bluff.”
The police, it was learnt, visited the estate last Sunday and advised the parties to report today for a meeting between the association and the developer, but, according to the residents, the developer ignored the police intervention by launching the dawn raid.
On the criminal complaints against the developer and its sister company, Coraxen, the association noted that apart from not being under any obligation to purchase electric power from the developer from the estate generators bought with contributions from the homeowners, the association would not encourage a flagrant violation of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act which prohibits anyone except licensed distribution companies, to engage in the sale or distribution of power.
In response to The Nation’s enquiries on the matter, Lekki Gardens’ Chief Engagement Officer Mr Romeo Akinwande said: “Many thanks, let’s speak tomorrow please.”
But a source affiliated to the company and familiar with the crisis, said: “This is for me doesn’t add up; it looks like blackmail. How can a company unleash thugs against its customers? This is the age of social media, can they provide video and photo evidence of the attack?
“The residents forcibly took over the service area outside of their estate that serves two estates including theirs and the company’s office by removing the external gate, walled it up and broke the fence from their side to take over the service area.”
