By Maduka Nweke
Some staff of Lekki Gardens Estate Limited have been accused of allegedly leading a band of thugs to break into the Premier-1 Residential Estate in Lekki area of Lagos .
The residents claimed that they were attacked monday morning, a move they said was resisted by the residents.
It was alleged that the incident was a fallout from the long-drawn battle between the developer and the Residents’ Association on the management of facilities in the estate and the developer’s willful alteration of the estate layout to the detriment of the residents.
According to a witness, the thugs and staff of the property development company arrived the estate by 5.30 am to forcibly create access to the estate’s utility area and the residential area.
The thugs, according to a source, came with some dangerous weapons with which they had attempted to break in before the residents’ association mobilised its members to resist the invasion. The source stated that the thugs alleged that they were engaged by Lekki Gardens Project Manager, Mr. Adekanmi Longe and the Chief Engagement Officer, Mr. Romeo Akinwande, to break into the estate.
Secretary of Premier-1 Owners and Residents Association (PORA), Dotun Adekambi, told newsmen:“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 resulted to violence.”
He continued “We have written to the police to notify them of the plan by the association to self-manage the estate and we have 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 on Sunday and advised the parties to report by Wednesday for a meeting between the association and the developer, but the developer ignored the police intervention by launching a dawn raid on the estate on Monday .
However, Lekki Gardens Estate Limited has denied the allegations, saying that such thing did not happen. A man who identified himself as Balaji who spoke on behalf of the company, said if such thing truely happened, the estate residents should prove the allegations with evidence and not just mere speculation.
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.