By Our Reporter
It appears the Monitoring Unit in the office of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, may have been flouting the direct orders of their boss as to how to handle civil and marital cases in the country. This is revealed at a meeting with senior police officers on Monday with senior officers and in the address delivered by the IG.
IGP, Usman Alkali
Some of the reports about the activities of the police Monitoring Unit reported to be attached to the office of the IG and carried by ElRufai News Magazine (ENM) indicate that the instructions of the IGP on civil and marital cases have been blatantly flouted.
In his address at the said meeting, the IG denounced the menace of criminalising civil matters by police personnel. The IG noted that he would not tolerate the “continuous violation” of the force regulations.
According to Alkali, “Another critical issue to deliberate upon at this meeting is the menace of criminalising civil matters by police officers.”
“Since the commencement of my administration as the inspector-general of police, I have maintained a stand and rolled out several directives and correspondences to abreast you all on the need to streamline our investigations and caution officers and men against meddling with civil matters such as land cases, debt collection, matrimonial case and matters already pending in court.
“It is the same reason why I forbid transferring of cases from lower commands to higher ones indiscriminately,” Alkali added.
This position of the IG is contrary to the actions of some police officers which reports ENM has featured in the past few months. For instance, ENM reported about a case involving the owner of the ALABUKUN pain killer drug, Mr Koye Odulate, whose divorce case has led to the institution of a criminal case against his ex-wife, former Mrs Rihole Odulate. In an investigation conducted by ENM, it was revealed by a DPO in Lagos that the marital case involving Mr Odulate and his ex-wife was transferred from Lagos to the police headquarters in Abuja where it was handled by the Monitoring Unit in the IG’s office and its activity in Lagos on the ALABUKUN case was led by an officer identified simply as Chinedu.
The Monitoring Unit has also seized the property of Ms Rihole by instituting a case using the name of the IG in Suit No. FHC/L/242C/2022 in which reference is made to the case as being “Between Inspector-General of Police…Complainant/Applicant” and Ms Rihole. Reacting to a court warrant obtained by the police in Suit No. FHC/L/242C/2022, lawyers to Ms Rihole state that the warrant is an outcome of “one-sided information” presented to court. But the warrant has led to a situation where two properties belonging to Ms Rihole in Lagos have been seized and the mother of two kids has been put in financial distress as a result.
Moreover, according to the lawyers to Ms Rihole, TEMPLARS (BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS), in CHARGE NO. FHC/L/242C/2022 that challenges the court warrant being used by the police, “On 26 May 2022, this Honourable Court, acting on the strength of the one-sided information availed to the Court by the Respondent (IG of Police), granted the Respondent’s ex parte application, and issued a Warrant of Arrest against the Applicants (Ms Rihole). Furthermore, the Respondent (IG of Police) initiated steps to orchestrate the extradition of the Applicants to Nigeria to face the Charge.”
The foregoing actions were engaged in by the Monitoring Unit of the IGP’s office despite an order by court to maintain “status quo” on all matters relating to the marital case between Mr Odulate and his ex-wife.
In another letter on police activities as instigated by some allegations made to them by Mr Odulate and 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, further allege that the Nigeria Police have consistently breached an existing court order restraining all parties involved (including the police) in the marital case 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 Honourable Court of the contemptuous and vexatious acts of the Respondents (Mr Odulate 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 (Ms Rihole) 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.
