News

I didn’t squeeze my landlord’s ‘member’, he died of hypertension – Tenant says

Published

1 year ago

March 25, 2023

A 33-year-old lady arrested in Ogun state for allegedly grabbing her landlord’s manhood during an argument till he died, has denied being responsible.

Speaking with The Punch while in detention, Ifeoma Ossai narrated what transpired on the fateful day after they had a fight.

The Delta native, however, said that she never held his member, rather, he died after their fight as a result of hypertension.

She said; On Saturday when the issue happened, I was coming back from somewhere when they asked me to pay N1,000 for electricity supply because we are using prepaid meter. We used electricity supply for four to five days because there were 12 tenants in the house. So, I went to the landlord and asked why we consumed electricity worth N12,000 within five days. I also remembered that we turned it off for some hours to save it.

I also consulted a friend who works with the electricity company and he said it was either there was accumulated debt on the meter or the man was not paying the N12,000 worth. But I told him that I trust my landlord and that he could not have been paying less than the amount.

So, I went to him and asked if there was a debt on the bill and he confessed. I then said I shouldn’t be paying for what I did not owe but he said others would not want to pay and that it was the only way to pay the bill. So, I let it go. I paid N1,000 and I went out, but on getting home, there was no water and light and I got to know that every other person had fetched water before my arrival. So, I complained to the younger brother that it was cheating and it was unfair, and he pleaded with me. He said he could not talk to his brother about it because he never knew anything about the house and more so, they were not on talking terms. I know that all of them don’t talk; even their wives don’t talk to one another.

I also told him that I would use the money I paid for the agent and agreement to stay in the house without paying. When I discussed it with someone, he told me to report it to human rights agency, but I didn’t because I felt we were close and more like a family. I could not see myself do that to them. As I was coming into the compound, I was saying that I was waiting for my rent to expire and that the law that would intervene in our matter because it won’t pay them.

So, the landlord, on Monday came out and attacked me when he heard that I had been saying that I would not pay when my money expires. I asked him if he were to be in my shoes and he was cheated, what would he have done? He said if I would not pay, I should pack out and the wife joined and started calling me a call girl and it degenerated into a fight and the man slapped me. The wife scratched my face and body.

His younger brother, Daddy David, intervened and warned his brother to desist from fighting because of his health condition. He (Daddy David) said his brother was hypertensive and that fighting could lead to a crisis. So, he left but the woman kept on abusing me despite all the wounds they had inflicted on me. So, I went to her and beat her. Daddy David left me to beat her to my satisfaction before he separated us, but while we were at it, I heard the husband making a call, asking some people to start coming to the house.

After the disagreement, I went back to my apartment. I planned to go to the police to report the case with blood on my face. But 30 minutes later, I heard people screaming. So, I went out and Daddy David said my landlord had collapsed. I rushed into their house and saw the man (landlord) unconscious and he was in a position of making a call because the phone was on his cheek as if he was on a call. They rushed him to hospital and he was pronounced dead there. They brought him back home and everyone was saying the man knew he was hypertensive and still went ahead to fight. I got to know that he was alone in the room when he had the attack.

So, I stayed in the house till they brought the police because I know I didn’t kill him. They told the police that he collapsed after fighting and I was surprised the next day when they started saying I held him by his manhood. I was surprised and I asked his brother why he lied because he saw all that happened between us. Again, that was not what he reported at the station the day before. So, what changed? He started asking me, ‘what now killed him?’. How and why would I touch his manhood? If I did, was there nobody to stop me from doing that? It was a cook-up story. That was how I found myself here.