Ogun landlords accuse Adron Homes of police harassment and utility cut-offs in Shimawa estates

Residents of five estates in Shimawa, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, have accused real estate developer Adron Homes and Property Limited of police harassment, threatened restrictions on access to their homes and disconnection of utilities in a dispute over who manages the estates.

The landlords, drawn from City of David, Cape Town, Golf, Treasure Park and Gardens Phase 1, and Downtown estates, made the allegations at a press briefing held at Cape Town Estate on Monday. Olalekan Agboke, chairman of the Cape Town Estate Landlord and Tenant Association, said the row centres on proposed management arrangements: Adron Homes has refused to recognise the residents' registered associations and instead set up its own body, AHPORA, which he said property owners are being compelled to join. Residents who refuse, he said, have been threatened with the withholding of their title documents.

A 70-year-old retired captain and Downtown Estate resident, Joseph Owoyele, said police officers visited his home on October 27 while he was observing his morning devotion and arrested him over an allegation that his association was collecting fees illegally. He said the association is registered, holds a bank account, pays no money into individual accounts and renders accounts monthly, and had managed the estate for more than five years after the management firm Firmshore stopped working with residents. He alleged that on October 6 some persons chased away their security personnel and destroyed access-control equipment.

Ayo Kazeem of Golf Estate said residents are not opposed to Adron Homes managing the estates but want the existing associations recognised, a fair price for services and a signed agreement setting out the company's obligations and the consequences of failing to meet them. He said the entire Golf Estate executive committee had previously been arrested, taken to the Zone 2 police command and moved to a court in Sagamu, and that the case was eventually dismissed after the company did not appear. Agboke added that some residents who bought land as far back as 2015 and 2021 still do not have valid title documents, and that some survey plans carry no plot or block number.

Adron Homes' executive director for public affairs and international relations, Oluwakemi Osude-Laniyan, asked the newspaper's correspondent to send enquiries by WhatsApp and did not respond to the message, the report said. She later said she was awaiting a detailed response from the appropriate department, which had not arrived by Tuesday night.