Court orders Bayelsa PDP to pay landlord N105m arrears

Odahiekwu Ogunde

A High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has ordered the Peoples Democratic Party in the state to pay N105million outstanding arrears of rent to the landlord of its secretariat complex in the state capital.

Justice T. Cocodia delivered the judgement on Suit No: YNC/50/2019, on Thursday.

The judge granted the landlord, a former council chairman, Mr Chubby Walson’s declaration that he was entitled to payment of rent from the PDP for the use of his six-winged storey-building on Alamieyeseigha Expressway, Yenagoa, as corporate secretariat complex of the party from August 2008 till date.

He ordered, “PDP should pay the landlord the sum of N85million, being balance of unpaid rent from July 2010 to July 2018 for the complex used as corporate secretariat of the party in Bayelsa State.”

Cocodia also ordered the party to pay the due rent of N20million to the landlord as rent from July 2018 to July 2019, if the matter transcended August 1, 2019.

Walson, former Chairman, Yenagoa Local Government Area, had in 2019 dragged the PDP, Bayelsa State Chapter, to the state High Court for failure to pay accumulated rent arrears since 2010.

Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the landlord, Kelvin Ejelonu, described it as well deserved as not only did the claimant prove his case but also the defendant (PDP) did not in any way discountenance the case of the claimant.

He said the case was established by preponderance of evidence, adding, “The judgment reemphasizes the fact that once you have a legal right and you pursue same through the courts, you are sure to get justice.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.