Damages: Tenant serves Ogun PCC Commissioner, Morakinyo Akinleye, with notice; demands ₦3.2m

Miss Olayinka Oyeleye, a tenant in Degun Estate, Abeokuta, has served a legal notice to Mr. Morakinyo Akinleye, the Federal Commissioner of the Ogun State Office of the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), over the destruction of her property.

Recall that Akinleye, who also serves as the chairman of Degun Estate, obstructed Olayinka’s efforts to re-roof her apartment and forcibly removed contractors after the roofing sheets had already been taken off, leaving her belongings exposed to rain damage.

In a recent development, KeepLoss has learned that the tenant, through her lawyer, has formally issued a notice to Akinleye. This was disclosed in a statement shared with other estate residents.

She said: My lawyer served a notice letter to the estate chairman (Mr. Morakinyo Akinleye) stating the damages caused to my apartment due to the estate chairman’s actions.

“However, we are yet to get any response from him, but since it is a 14-day notice, we are waiting till the expiration of the 14 days before proceeding to the next action.”

Olayinka said, “I want to register the fact that my lawyer and I are, in no way, bent on troubling the cordiality of our neighborliness.

“If we ever move to the next level, it will be a hard decision, which would then be necessitated by the unavoidable need to start all over again to re-acquire all that I had earlier worked for as a struggling and hardworking relatively young graduate.

“I am compelled to, thus, affirm a bitter truth here—that the ongoing mounting of pressure by proxy via pleas from some stakeholders would never suffice to fill the wide gulf that has been imposed on my promising life.”

The Notice

LETTER OF DEMAND FOR THE SUM OF THREE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND NAIRA ONLY (N3,205,000.00) BEING THE COST OF DAMAGES

“We are the Solicitors and Legal Representatives of Miss OLAYINKA OYELEYE of Block O, A.A.K Degun Mitros Estate, Laderin, Abeokuta, Ogun State (herein referred to as “Our Client”) on whose instructions and behalf we write you.

“It is Our Client’s brief that on the 10th of March, 2025, Our Client’s landlord sent some carpenters to Our Client’s house to fix the leaking roof of her house. This was as a result of earlier complaints made by Our Client to her landlord. On the arrival of the carpenters to the Estate gate, they were scrutinized and later let into the estate in line with the security procedure of the estate.

“The Carpenters commenced the job of fixing the leaking roof by removing the roofing sheets and identifying the source of leak so as to stop the leakage. In the course of identifying the source of leak, you came over to the premises of the work and ORDERED them to stop work. The Carpenters heeded to your instruction immediately. Thereafter, the Carpenters informed you that the roofing sheets of Our Client’s building had been removed thereby exposing the internal structure of the building as well as all the properties to the elements of weather. The carpenters further informed you that it could rain going by the weather forecast of that day.

“Despite the fact that all the aforementioned information were availed you and the fact that the carpenters, Alhaji Sakiru Adesanya with other meaning residents of the estate were begging for you to allow the carpenters finish their jobs, you obstinately, obdurately and stubbornly insisted that work shall not continue as regards the roofing of Our Client’s building.

“This impenitent and unregenerate action of yours led to the flooding of Our Client’s apartment and total destruction and absolute damage of Our Client’s properties because just as it had earlier been forecast by meteorologists and you also were reliably informed, it did rain on that day.

Amongst Our Client’s Properties destroyed include, but not limited to the following:

1. 32 Inches Cello Smart Television – ₦250,000.00
2. 172DR Hisense Refrigerator – ₦260,000.00
3. 8kg Hisense Washing Machine – ₦295,000.00
4. A full set of Sofa – ₦500,000.00
5. 2 Horsepower Panasonic Air Conditioner – ₦400,000.00
6. Electrical fittings – ₦100,000.00
7. A modern wooden Bed frame – ₦300,000.00
8. A modern wooden Wardrobe – ₦250,000.00
9. A modern wooden Kitchen Cabinet – ₦300,000.00
10. Food (Groceries, Foodstuffs, etc.) – ₦100,000.00
11. Clothes/Laundry – ₦250,000.00

Total: ₦3,005,000.00

“Also underlisted are the cost of services needed to restore Our Client’s apartment back to its original tenantable state:

a. Thorough and General Cleaning of the whole apartment – ₦100,000.00
b. House Painting – ₦100,000.00

Total: ₦200,000.00

Sequel to the above, we hereby DEMAND that the total sum of Three Million, Two Hundred And Five Thousand Naira Only (₦3,205,000.00) being the cost of damages and destruction be paid to Our Client or Our office on or before the expiration of fourteen (14) days of the receipt of this letter.”

KeepLoss gathered that Akinleye, the National Commissioner of the Ogun State Office of the Public Complaints Commission, has opted to hire a lawyer to handle the matter.

The PCC, which was established in 1975, was created to address social injustice by government or private sector officials and to help reduce the burden of cases in the court of law through alternative dispute resolution, aiming to resolve various disputes among the people of the state.

It is surprising that Akinleye, the National Commissioner of a public complaint agency, is displaying such behavior. This raises the question once again: who can Ogun residents turn to for their complaints?

Backstory

On Monday, March 10, around 6 AM, the landlord sent workers to fix the roof leakage while Olayinka was preparing for work.

The workers began by removing the old roofing sheets to carry out the repairs as she left for work, expecting the job to be completed by the time she returned.

However, when she contacted the workers around 2 PM to check on the progress, she was shocked to learn that Morakinyo Akinleye, the chairman of Degun Estate, had stopped the contractors from reinstalling the roof.

Despite multiple pleas from the workers, Akinleye refused to allow them to continue the job. He reportedly ordered the estate security to forcibly remove the contractors from the estate, leaving the entire building exposed.

Tragically, before Olayinka could reach her landlord, who is currently overseas, heavy rainfall had caused extensive damage to her belongings.

In an attempt to seek redress, Olayinka shared video evidence of her damaged property in the estate’s WhatsApp group to alert the chairman and other residents. Shockingly, instead of addressing the issue, she was removed from the group, and her messages were deleted.

Akinleye, however, maintained that the landlord did not seek his permission before attempting to re-roof the house, and as such, the work could not proceed.