Tenant Beats Up Landlord Over Locked Room Due to Unpaid Rent

A tenant identified as Musa Alhassan allegedly assaulted his landlord, Samson Bako, over unpaid house rent in the Pegi community of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

A resident of the area, Ishaku Ayuba, said the incident occurred after the landlord locked up the tenant’s room for refusing to pay rent.

Ayuba explained that the tenant, a commercial driver who rented a single bedroom in the area, had been owing one year’s rent and had repeatedly refused to pay.

He added that one of the landlord’s sons, who handles rent collection for the property, had approached the tenant multiple times to demand payment, but the tenant continued to ignore the requests.

“The man is a commercial driver, who has been staying in that compound for three years now. Since last year when his rent expired, he has refused to pay the landlord,” he said.

He said the landlord got angry when the tenant insulted his son.

“When the tenant had gone to work, the landlord used another padlock to lock up the room.

“It was when he returned from work on Thursday night and discovered that his room was locked and when he enquired from other tenants and was told that it was the landlord that locked his room.

‘’The tenant walked straight and attempted to slap the landlord’s son. In the process, the landlord came out and it resulted to serious quarrel and the tenant assaulted the landlord.’’

Ayuba stated that local vigilantes were quickly alerted and intervened, eventually taking the tenant away.

A member of the vigilante group, identified simply as Joshua, confirmed the incident, adding that the tenant has been handed over to security personnel in the area.