A Nigerian woman, Sholabomi Richard has decried the unlawful arrest and detention of her husband, Ayotunde Richard, a gospel singer, by the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, in Lagos State.
She lamented that some policemen came to their house at Eagle Estate in the Magboro area of Ogun State on Tuesday night to arrest her husband over an “issue that had been long resolved”.
Sholabomi, who took to her Facebook page to address her husband's followers accused the police of revisiting a petition written by one Opeyemi Emmanuel against her husband.
Meanwhile, according to her, “the issue has been settled at the highest level before now”.
She said, "As we are at home now some people came banging at our door and by the time we interacted with them through the window, because we have never experienced the way they were banging our door before, they told us that they are policemen from Alagbon Police Station and they came to see my husband.
“The police said there was a petition against my husband based on past development. The petition they are talking about was the one Opeyemi wrote against my husband which has been settled by police commissioner at the highest level before now.
“It has now been revisited; they told us that the matter is now a serious one, that is how my husband was arrested. I am begging all my husband’s followers to intercede.”
However, speaking with SaharaReporters, Sholabomi described the arrest as a serious humiliation by Dr. Daniel Olukoya, the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries against her husband.
She explained that her husband was the right-hand singer of Olukoya until he was suspended indefinitely and later resigned from the church.
"My husband is Ayotunde Richard and I am his wife Sholabomi Richard. I totally promise that this matter is a serious humiliation by Dr Olukoya against my husband.
"Ayotunde Richard used to be the right-hand singer of DK Olukoya until he was suspended indefinitely for admonishing a pastor that misbehaved. My husband submitted his resignation letter to DKO and all manner of issues have been thrown at him for taking bold steps.
"When my husband left the church, a woman was being used by Olukoya to petition my husband on issues of cyberbullying, a threat against a minor, and defamation of civil servants which are lies.
"They are all false charges brought against my husband. Opeyemi Emmanuel, a singer at MFM headquarters Praise and Worship singing group, defamed my husband’s name on Facebook when Ayotunde Richard called her out to stop the witch-hunt in the church. But instead, she was the one cyberattacking and defaming Ayotunde Richard.
"These same allegations had already been resolved at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) by the Assistant Commissioner of Police. But because Daniel Kolawole Olukoya wasn't satisfied with the parties apologising to each other, DKO revisited it using Alagbon police.
"At midnight, certain policemen came to our house to arrest my husband based on the same allegations," she added.
She said, “My husband was first petitioned at the Special Fraud Unit in 2021 by Opeyemi. The officers were surprised that a non-trivial case was petitioned against him.
“They even said they treat cases involving millions to billions of naira and that the cyberbullying allegation was not substantive.
“After hearing from all the sides, they said there was nothing they could charge him with as it was Opeyemi that instigated the cyberbullying against my husband first. When they realised that my husband was innocent of the cyberbullying and defamation allegations, Opeyemi presented a private conversation I had with Dr Olukoya as evidence to indict my husband.
“In the conversation, I told Dr Olukoya in a private that my husband didn't want to leave the shores of Nigeria because of his singing. They dismissed the conversation and advised my husband to return to the church because the petition was a result of his leaving the church in the first place.”
Meanwhile, Opeyemi Emmanuel told SaharaReporters that all the things that Sholabomi Richard said on social media are all lies.
She said, "What the wife is saying on social media are all lies.
"At this juncture, I think the government should intervene. They have intervened in the past, but they have persistently called out my house address and people have been parading my house with guns, which is a threat to my life and that of my family.
"We are both Nigerian citizens and when two citizens have issues let the government resolve them amicably," Opeyemi added.
When contacted, the spokesman for the MFM, Mr Collins Edommaruse said the matter “has nothing to do with the church and we have nothing to say”.