By Our Reporter
The Nigeria Police appear to have serially and consistently breached the ruling of a Federal High Court, Lagos State, in a case between the maker of the popular ALABUKUN pain killer drug, Mr Rotimi Koyejo Odulate, and his ex-wife, Ms Rihole Odulate. This is revealed in an investigation carried out by Elrufai News Magazine (ENM) in the post-divorce unfolding saga involving Mr Odulate – allegedly reputed to be a serial user of the police and officials in other government agencies to intimidate people he has disagreement with – and his ex-wife.
An extensive count of how Mr Odulate allegedly uses government officials to harass people now includes some unscrupulous officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission, as contained in a petition submitted to the office of the Inspector General of Police and reported recently by ENM.
In the latest letter on Mr Odulate’s activities written to Honourable Justice A.L. Allagoa, the presiding judge at a High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the substantive case is being heard, legal counsel to Ms Rihole, Ukiri Lijadu Chambers, allege that Mr Odulate and the Nigeria Police have consistently breached an existing court order restraining both parties from taking further action against their client. According to the legal counsel, the said court order was issued in August 2022 by Justice Akintayo Aluko who ordered that until the substantive suit was heard and judgment delivered, the parties in the suit should sheath their swords.
In their letter to Justice Allagoa dated February 23, 2023 and titled, “Notice Of Atrocities And Contemptuous Activities Of The Respondents In Disrespect And Contravention Of The Order Of This Honourable Court For Parties To Maintain Status Quo,” Ukiri Lijadu Chambers contend that Mr Odulate and the police are in contravention of the valid order of the court to maintain status quo.
The legal counsel further stated as follows: “We refer to the order of this Honorable Court, Coram: Honorable Justice Aluko, made on 25th August 2022, wherein the Honorable Court ordered all the parties in this suit, including the Police, to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the final determination of the suit… We write to inform the Honorable Court of the contemptuous and vexatious acts of the Respondents (Mr Odulte and the Police) herein, in contravention of the valid order of the Honourable Court for parties to maintain status quo.”
In the original suit, number FHC/L/CS/851/2022, and heard on January 31, 2023, the plaintiff had sought reliefs from the court over police harassment. Listed at the time as respondents along with Mr Odulate, were the Inspector General of Police, Asp Idris Rasheed (Officer In Charge Team 8 Zone 2 Command Onikan; Csp Uba Bangajiyaadam (O/C Monitoring Unit (Mtu) Zone 2 H/Q Onikan; The Assistant Inspector General Of Police (Zone 2 Command Onikan); The Inspector General Of Police. The Nigeria Police Force; Mr Uche Wigwe; Wigwe & Partners, as well as the Attorney General Of The Federation.
In the letter alleging contempt of court order written to Justice Allagoa in February 2023, counsel to Ms Rihole outlined the “sequence of events leading to the instant fundamental right action and the continued contemptuous acts of the Respondents, despite the subsistence of the instant action and the abovementioned order of this Honourable Court.” Among such events outlined were the fact that Ms Rihole instituted a divorce proceeding in September 2020 at a UK Court and this was ruled in her favour. The court also ordered Mr Odulate to pay for the upkeep of the children. However, in an attempt to not honour the court’s ruling, Ms Rihole’s lawyer alleged, Mr Odulate got the Nigerian police to engage in diverse actions including freezing the bank accounts of his ex-wife on bank order, rather than court order as applicable in such circumstance, and as such committing an illegal act.
According to the lawyers, Mr Odulate in a petition to the Zone 2 Police Command at Onikan, Lagos, accused his ex-wife of “stealing, embezzlement, money laundering, criminal conversion and diversion of funds belonging to Metro Group Limited (a company incorporated by the 1st Applicant (Ms Rihole) and 1st Respondent (Mr Odulate) during the subsistence of their marriage).” This was one amongst other frivolous allegations made by Mr Odulate. In the view of the lawyers to Ms Rihole, “It is pertinent to bring to the attention of Your Lordship that Metro Group Limited is a family company and the shareholders of the said company are the 1st Applicant, the 1st Respondent and their children. Payments were routinely made from the company’s account to the 1st Applicant for her welfare and that of her children. The 1st Applicant and 1st Respondent also make payments from the account to third parties when necessary.” For this reason, the lawyers wondered if Ms Rihole could have stolen from her own company when her ex-husband had fully approved every transaction carried out.
In his bid to further frustrate the outcome of the UK ruling in the divorce suit, Mr Odulate, lawyers to Ms Rihole stated, petitioned the Nigeria Police Force and made “statements in writing to the Police targeted at arresting and freezing the Applicants’ accounts.” On the basis of this, the Police wrote invitation letters dated 18th February 2022 and 8th March 2022 respectively, asking Ms Rihole to report to one ASP Rasheed Idris at Zone 2 Headquarters, Lagos, even when they knew Ms Rihole no longer resided in Nigeria at the said period.
On January 18, 2023, the substantive case of police harassment instituted as far back as January 31, 2022 came up for hearing in the court of Justice Allagoa. In the course of the hearing Justice Allagoa fixed March 8, 2023 for ruling. But less than 24 hours after this ruling, police officers led by one CSP Chinedu said to be of the Inspector General’s Monitoring Unit sealed off one of the properties of Ms Rihole located at Awoyaya, Lekki Area of Lagos State. CSP Chinedu was contacted on this following number – 08061339096 – and in response to an observation that such step was in breach of a subsisting order of status quo, he said “This is Nigeria now.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer therefore wrote to the court of Justice Allagoa to notify him of the series of actions that they believed amounted to contempt of court’s order to maintain the status quo as previously granted in the court of Honourable Justice Aluko in August 2022.
In his bench ruling on August 25, 2022 to maintain status quo ante bellum until fundamental case was over at Federal High Court Ikoyi, the Honourable Justice Akintayo Aluko, in suit number FHC/L/CS/851/2022, stated thus: “I have no doubt in my mind that the issues in the petition dated 31/1/2022 over which the Applicants have been invited are already before this Court and in respect of which hearing has been slated for 28/9/22.
“I feel the Respondents and all the parties including the Applicants have a duty to ensure that the res in litigation is protected. I feel it is necessary to ask parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of the pending matter which has
been adjourned to 28/9/22.” The judge had further stated that, “I see the need to direct all parties to sheathe their sword and respect the authority and power of the Court to adjudicate on matters pending before it and should refrain from taking any action that is capable of rendering the outcome of the pending suit nugatory. Accordingly, I hereby order all the parties including the police to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the final determination of the pending case.”
In their letter alleging contempt of court order and sent to the court of Justice Allagoa on February 23, 2023, counsel to Ms Rihole accused the police of harassing their Client and her family members, placing a ban on her bank accounts, as well as sealing off her business premises in Lagos. According to the counsel to the plaintiff, these actions are done by some of the police officers named in the original suit and several others not included at the instigation of Mr Odulate as part of his efforts to not honour the rulings of a UK court on the divorce case.
ENM spoke to the Public Relations Officer of Police Zone 2, Lagos, SP Hauwa Idris Adamu on the contempt charges levelled against the police, seeking to know her view. However she said that the file on the case has been transferred to Abuja and that ENM should contact Abuja. ENM also spoke with the Force Public Relations Officer, (Public Complaints), CSP El-Mustapha Sani and sent a copy of the court order on status quo to him through his whatsapp number for several days, but he has yet to respond as at the time of this report.
