By Our Reporter
Months after a Nigerian woman delivered a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, asking for his help in a police harassment case, investigation has shown that she has not got any. The woman, Ms Rihole, ex-wife of the maker of ALABUKUN pain killer drug, Mr Rotimi Odulate, through her lawyers had sought the intervention of the IG back in 2022. In a petition that her lawyers, Ukiri and Lijadu Chambers, Lagos, signed, they brought her complaints to the attention of IG who has since kept a loud silence over it. This was discovered in the course of an investigation conducted by ElRufai News Magazine (ENM).
ENM contacted the police headquarters over the matter. While speaking with ENM, the officer in charge of public complaints, CSP El-Mustapha Sani, advised our reporter to cause a letter to be written to the office of the IG on the matter. When he was informed that several letters had been written in the past, he repeated that letter had to be written to the office of the IG.
It would be recalled that ENM reported weeks back that lawyers to Ms Rihole had written several letters to the office of the Inspector General over a case of harassment involving the police. The backdrop to it was the ruling in a divorce suit (Case Number: BV20D17396) filed and settled in a UK court. The court had ordered that Odulate should pay a certain amount of money for the upkeep of his two children in the care of their mother. In a court paper, with suit number FHC/L/CS/851/2022, that ENM got through its investigation, lawyers to Ms Rihole stated before a Lagos High court that Odulate had instigated the police to harass Ms Rihole and family members and their property because he did not want to honour the ruling of the UK court.
Meanwhile the Nigeria Police through their lawyer had told the court that they were investigating Ms Odulate for fraud as alleged by her ex-husband, and this was the reason they went after her, her family members, and their property. This was done in spite of a court order of status quo ante bellum issued in the court of Hon. Justice Aluko in Lagos in September 2022. Lawyers to Ms Rihole had countered the claims made by the police, as seen in court papers, stating that the allegation of fraud against Ms Rihole was false and an afterthought because she was a Director in the family company and a co-signatory to bank accounts of the company in which Mr Odulate alleged she stole funds. The lawyers stated that Mr Odulate was also a co-signatory and both he and the company auditors did not make any allegations of fraud until the UK court order was issued in a divorce suit.
In the course of the proceedings over the case of police harassment, the court heard that members of the police force had been reported to the IG, whose Monitoring Unit took over the case at the police force headquarters. Part of the complaint made to the IG was that police officers were flouting a court order to maintain status quo ante bellum, but IG had kept mum over it. This the lawyers said had led to further harassment of their client by the police. Her properties have been seized. According to her lawyers, this has put her in financial distress and it was one of the reasons she appealed to the IG for help so that she would be able to take care of her two children.
In the petition written to the IG by Ukiri and Lijadu Chambers on behalf of Ms Rihole on February 8, 2023 they reminded the police boss of a previous letter on the matter, complaining that nothing had been done to get the police to stop flouting a properly issued status quo order.
“We refer to our last letter to you dated 6th September 2022, wherein we brought the Order of the Federal High Court, Lagos directing that the Respondents maintain status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of our Clients’ substantive application for the enforcement of their fundamental rights to your notice. Our Clients’ substantive application was heard on 18th January 2023 and reserved for judgment on 8th March 2023 (this has since been shifted to June 7, 2023, in the court of Hon. Justice Allagoa). Notwithstanding the above order and pendency of our Clients’ application for fundamental rights, as well as the undertaking made by your counsel in open court on 28th September, 2022, on 20th January 2023, barely two (2) days after our Clients’ application for the enforcement of their Fundamental Rights was argued in Court, men purporting to be Officers of the Nigeria Police Force, visited our Clients business premises, FairAcres, Lagos, located at Km 29 Lekki-Epe Express way, opposite Mayfair Gardens, Awoyaya, Lagos.
“These Officers were led by one Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Chinedu who
identified himself as being part of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit, FCT
Abuja. They purported to seal up our Clients’ business premises by marking its entire walls with red paint as being under investigation. This was done without any prior notice of such investigation of our Clients’ property. They also did not produce an Order of any Court of competent jurisdiction authorizing them to deny and infringe on our Clients’ rights to own and acquire their business premises. Attached and marked as “Annexure A” are photographs of the business premises showing the markings by done by your Officers.”
Lawyers to Ms Rihole said they were shocked by the action of the police since they were meant to be law enforcers, but they had since resorted to flouting the laws at the behest of Mr Odulate. According to the lawyers, “We are shocked and appalled that despite the Order of the Federal High Court that status quo ante bellum be maintained, your Officers have proceeded to take the law into their hands by such brazen actions in defiance of a Court of Law of competent jurisdiction. Thereby interfering with the due administration of justice in contempt of the Order of the Court.
“We wish to reiterate that the effect of the Court’s Order is that parties should as far as is practicable maintain status quo ante i.e ., revert to the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy and to refrain from taking any steps against our Clients until the fundamental rights action is decided.”
In their latest letter, lawyers to Ms Rihole further reiterated their call on the IG to order his officers to obey the law. “In view of the above,” the lawyers stated, “we request that you kindly direct the relevant officers, particularly Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Chinedu of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit, FCT Abuja and the other complicit officers of the Nigerian Police Force to rid themselves of the contempt of the Order of the Federal High Court by opening up our Clients’ business premises and removing all of the markings made to the said premises forthwith.
“We also request that you kindly direct the said officers of the Nigerian Police Force to
refrain from further infringement of our Clients ‘ fundamental human rights and to send a letter of Apology to our Clients as a show of their contrition.”
There has been no response from the IG’s office. Meanwhile, police officers were reportedly seen at Ms Rihole’s Lekki property days after the latest letter to the IG was written, threatening to expel the workers there and take over the property on behalf of Mr Odulate.
