Residents Of Tinubu-promoted Estate Protest Extortion

Residents of Royal Gardens Estate in the Ajah area of the Lagos metropolis, on Saturday, protested against what they describe as the failure of Trojan Estates Limited and Broll Properties Limited, their property developers/managers, to provide services commensurate to what they pay annually as service charges.

The residents accused Trojan and Broll, who manage the estate promoted by one Kola Tinubu, of failing to provide them with electricity, as well as delivering unsatisfactory services, thereby extorting them.

Speaking during the protest, Chairman of the estate association, Gus Wiggle, accused both Trojan and Broll of not being accountable despite collecting huge sums of money from them and have also refused to sign the deed of agreement with plot owners.
Wiggle stated that it was time for both companies to own up to their responsibilities and function effectively.

“We are asking Trojan and Broll to be transparent with us. We can’t be slaves in our own house, we are not tenants here, we bought lands.

“Having succeeded in imposing Broll as facility managers, against the letter of the signed deed of agreement which stipulates that the plot owners enter into an agreement with a facility manager, Trojan and Broll have continued to exploit and profit from their stranglehold in the provision of services to the estate.

“These services, in turn, are substandard and not comparable to those provided in surrounding estates where plot owners pay substantially less,” the estate chairman said.

Wiggle also explained that the residents had sought the intervention of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), the electricity distributor; and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the electricity regulator, on the matter of poor electricity supply to the estate.

He noted that despite the intervention of EKEDC and the residents’ unanimous agreement to pay about half of the charge for the previous year, Trojan still refused to sell electricity tokens to them.
He lamented that the estate developers had cut off electricity from some homes, describing it as unlawful action which has exposed them to security risks.

He said: “As law-abiding citizens, we have made complaints to EKDC, NERC and the Nigeria police Ajah in a bid to call Trojan/Broll to order. We have also approached the court to secure an injunction to restrain them from this action but the lawlessness by Trojan/Broll has remained unabated.

“We cannot be denied access to electricity since this is our fundamental right. Our protest today is a non-violent action. It is the beginning of several other actions we shall take to ensure that our rights are never denied us.”

The EKEDC in a letter dated 30 July 2019, had informed Trojan/Broll that their action was improper, and subsequently the developer to take necessary steps to ensure electricity was adequately provided for the estate residents.

The letter partly read: “We wish to stress that we are becoming tremendously discomforted by these unending complaints from the residents of the Royal Garden Estate for your failure to ensure that proper practices are adhered to in relation to the supply of electricity to the residents of the Royal Garden Estate. We, therefore, counsel that you henceforth implement necessary actions and take relevant precautions to avoid further occurrence of like issues and consequent complaints from the residents of Royal Garden Estate.”

Despite the warning, Trojan/Broll has failed to adhere to the directives issued in EKEDC’s letter.

When contacted, Adigun Afolabi, an employee of Broll who serves as the facility manager in the estate refused to comment.

“I think you should write to the organisation,” he was quoted as saying by the cable.ng