A landlord in Akwa Ibom State, Steve Asuquo, has threatened to institute a legal action against the state Ministry of Sports over alleged non-payment of rent on his building for six years and damage to facilities in the building.

He put the accumulated rent and damage to the building at N24m.

It was gathered that the property located at No. 16 Inim Etok Akpan Street, Uyo, was rented by the ministry for camping players and officials of the Ibom Angels Football Club, a female team.

Asuquo lamented in a statement that despite several letters and visits, the ministry had yet to pay the rent, adding that facilities in the house had been vandalised.

He alleged that a section of the building had been turned into a poultry farm by the tenants and all facilities in it broken down.

According to him, the doors are in a bad shape and the five septic tanks are filled to the brim, resulting in the girls using the underground water tank as waste bin for sanitary pads.

The statement read in part, “The initial agreement I had with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in terms of the rent long expired in 2014 and on several occasions, I had visited the ministry and written several letters, including one to the SSG (Secretary to the State Government).

“The building has been in a very bad shape due to the destruction of facilities by the girls such that all the three glass doors and 38 wooden doors have been destroyed so much that none of the doors has a key or lock.

“The ceiling is broken and the roof leaking. The five soakaway/septic tanks have been filled to the brim and the girls have resorted to using the underground water tank as waste bin for sanitary pads and human waste.

“On numerous occasions, I had to intervene by fixing some of the destroyed facilities like the water pump twice in 2015 and 2018 at a total sum of N150,000. Electric bills have not been paid for seven years.

“The girls have abandoned the camp and are stranded on the streets of Uyo due to the breakdown of facilities in the camp and the non-payment of rent for six years.

“A section of the building was even turned to a poultry farm by some of the girls and I had to drag in the former Chairman of the Sport Council to see things by himself in 2016.”

Asuquo explained that the ministry sent some contractors to evaluate the cost of fixing the property, adding that when the bill of about N10m was given, it turned around and sent N2m to fix the items.

According to him, the N2m was rejected because it was not enough to fix the septic tanks and water tank.

He added that the Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports, Mr Paul Bassey, paid a visit to the camp in December 2018 with the intention to getting the permanent secretary and the commissioner to intervene, but to no avail.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Sports, Mr Monday Uko, said he had no comment on the issue.

But a source in the ministry, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the issue was well known to the ministry.

The source explained that the ministry had made efforts to pay the rent in instalments, but the landlord turned them down and insisted that he must be paid in full.

“As much as I know about the issue, the ministry has been making efforts to pay the rent. At a stage, we tried to make payment in instalments, but the landlord said he did not want payment in instalments,” the source stated.

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