Landlord Demands N105m Accumulated Rent From Bayelsa PDP

The Bayelsa State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has been called on by the owner of the property housing the Secretariat of the party in the state, Chubby Ben-Walson to pay him outstanding rent totalling N105m before vacating the building.

Mr Ben-Walson on Sunday noted that the PDP are yet to pay their rent for the past six years, he further stated that the party instead of paying, wrote to him that it was quitting the property.

The landlord added that he rented out the six-winged storey building to the state PDP to in 2008.

On June 18, 2020, a Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa delivered a judgment in a case filed by the landlord, ordering the state PDP to pay N105m, being the rent arrears owed by the party for six years.

Ben-Walson said, “After the judgment, the party, through one of the executives, approached my lawyer on how to settle the debt.”

“The party’s state chairman, Solomon Agwana, and the secretary, Gesiye Isowo, however, have written to me, stating that they are officially vacating my property after destroying same.”

“The PDP refusing to pay me my due rent is simply the story of callousness and wickedness; that is the property they have been occupying to record several electoral victories in Bayelsa State.”

The Chairman of the party, Solomon Agwana, while reacting to the report, noted that the purpose of the letter forwarded to the owner of the property was to terminate the old tenancy and stop the rent from accumulating further in view of the subsisting judgment.

He said the court judgment, which preceded the emergence of his leadership, had been appealed, but “we are still trying to reach out to parties for an out-of-court settlement.”