Adeyanju Writes Tinubu, Demands Rent Caps, Tenant Protection Law

Human rights activist and lawyer Comrade Deji Adeyanju has written an open letter to President Bola Tinubu demanding that the federal government declare a state of emergency on housing and the rental market, describing the current system as predatory and unconstitutional.

In the letter, Adeyanju said he was writing not only as a legal practitioner but as an activist who has watched “the silent, agonizing erosion of human dignity” across cities including Abuja and Lagos.

He argued that shelter has become a commodity reserved for the highest bidder rather than the basic right it ought to be, insisting that “shelter is not a luxury product” but a core responsibility of the government.

Citing the 1999 Constitution, Adeyanju noted that Section 14(2)(b) requires that the security and welfare of citizens be treated as government’s primary purpose, and pointed to provisions under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy that direct the state to ensure adequate shelter for all citizens while preventing the concentration of wealth in a few hands.

He also invoked Nigeria’s obligations under Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, arguing that housing must be treated as a social good rather than a speculative financial asset.

Describing conditions on the ground, Adeyanju said the rental markets in Abuja and Lagos had become an “absolute wild west,” with landlords, speculators and unregulated agents extracting exploitative terms from tenants.

He detailed a pattern of tenants being forced to pay two to three years of rent upfront alongside agency fees running as high as 20%, “legal fees” of up to 15% charged for template documents no lawyer ever prepared, service charges that sometimes exceed the rent itself, and non-refundable “caution fees” he described as an effective illegal surcharge.

He warned that unchecked urban renewal risks becoming indistinguishable from gentrification, arguing that any development plan must still allow artisans, civil servants and ordinary workers to live near their livelihoods.

Without correction, he said, the current system would trap citizens in poverty, deepen corruption, and push families into informal settlements. He pointed to Ghana’s Rent Act, which imposes statutory limits on advance rent and is backed by an active enforcement body, as a model Nigeria should draw from.

Adeyanju’s letter set out six specific demands. He called on the president to formally declare a state of emergency on housing and urban tenancy, and to constitute a presidential taskforce – led by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development – with a 90-day mandate to draft a national housing and tenancy policy and, if necessary, send an executive bill on fair rent standards to the National Assembly.

He also urged that all federal housing and urban renewal schemes carry mandatory quotas for low- and middle-income housing.

On fees, Adeyanju asked that combined agency and legal charges be capped at 7.5% of annual rent, with proof required that any legal fee was tied to work by a lawyer enrolled at the Supreme Court, and that service charges be capped at 5% of annual rent and made fully auditable.

He further demanded that advance rent be limited to a maximum of one year, moving progressively toward monthly rent payment models, and that caution fees be banned outright, with any unrefunded deposit lacking audited proof of damage treated as a legal offence.

On enforcement, he called for a digital tenant reporting platform backed by an ombudsman and rapid-response desk, alongside civil fines, criminal sanctions and professional disqualification for landlords and agents found in violation.

He also demanded for an expansion of low-cost public housing through social investment, tax credits and public-private partnerships, with affordability measured against the real minimum wage rather than nominal market benchmarks.

Adeyanju added that “history will judge this administration” not only on economic indicators but on how it protected the dignity of citizens during a period of economic hardship, describing secure shelter as “a constitutional command and a fundamental human right” rather than an act of charity.