The law firm made the accusation in a letter dated April 17, 2024, signed by its head, Alexander Oketa, and addressed to the IGP, which was obtained by SaharaReporters.
A law firm, Alex Oketa Chambers, has accused the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, and officers of the Nigeria Police Force, of contempt of court judgments, abuse of office and violation of its client, directors and workers of a company, Senan Integrated Nigeria Limited’s fundamental rights.
The law firm made the accusation in a letter dated April 17, 2024, signed by its head, Alexander Oketa, and addressed to the IGP, which was obtained by SaharaReporters.
Oketa accused the IGP of deploying his armed men to fight the directors and workers of Senan Integrated Nigeria Limited over the ownership and possession of Plot HT2 (now Plot N0.86), Cadastral Zone B16, with File No. MISC 53601, Sector Centre District Jabi, Abuja (hereinafter referred to as “the property”) despite two subsisting judgments delivered in favour of the company by the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.
Oketa demanded immediate restraint, compensation, a return to status quo antebellum and apology to Senan Integrated Nigeria Limited by the Inspector General of Police.
The letter read, “We wish to on record draw your attention to serious acts of contempt to the two subsisting judgments of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, blatant abuse of office and resumed violations of the Fundamental Rights of the directors and workers of our client, Senan Integrated being perpetuated by you and your personnel under the power and use of naked arms and ammunition with regards to the ownership and possession of Plot HT2 (now Plot N0.86), Cadastral Zone B16, with File No. MISC 53601, Sector Centre District Jabi, Abuja (hereinafter referred to as “the property”) despite two (2) subsisting judgments in favor of Our Client; and to demand immediate restraint, compensation, a return to status quo antebellum and apology to our client.
“There was a dispute over Plot HT2 (now Plot N0.86), Cadastral Zone B16, with File N0. MISC 53601, Sector Centre District Jabi, Abuja between Our Client and Dalami Nigeria Limited and the unlawful use of the Nigeria Police Force by our client’s opponents to harass, arrest and dispossess our client of the property.
“Our Client first approached the FCT High Court for a redress in suit No. FCT/HC/CV/824/2021 between Senan Integrated Nigeria Limited & Anor. V Dalami Nigeria Ltd & Anor. Eventually, a Consent Judgment was reached between Our Client and its opponent, Dalami Nigeria Limited, Coram, His Lordship, Hon. Justice Muawiyah Baba Idris.
“However, some dissenting persons led by David Abiola Kasamu (Now known and called Abiola David Lawal) who are the children of a former Director of the Company denounced the resolution and eventual judgment of the Court, claiming not to know the Directors who transacted with Our Client, contrary to cogent available evidence suggesting that the Directors were not only known to them but had in fact interacted with them and had acted for them and the company in respect of other related issues.
“On the strength of the denial of the dissenting persons, we had written a petition to the Inspector General of Police which directed the FCT Police Command to investigate the case.
“No sooner than the FCT Police Command had started unraveling facts which shows sufficient link between the disgruntled persons and the directors that they opted out to use some misguided police officers to hijack the file from the FCT Police Command and consequently truncated further investigation of Our Client’s Complaint.
“We had sought and obtained an Interim Police Report from the FCT Police Command which shows that our client’s opponents has sufficient link and communication, even during the investigation, with the directors who sold the property to our client, spanning over decades, contrary to their claim of not knowing them.
“Our Client again approached the FCT High Court to enforce its fundamental rights against the Nigeria Police Force in suit no FCT/ HC/CV/ GAR/ 215/2023 between Senan Integrated Resources Ltd & Anor. V IGP & 2 Ors and again obtained judgment, Coram, His Lordship, Hon. Justice J.O.E Adeyemi-Ajayi, against the Nigeria Police Force with the award of N5000,000 as general damages.
“The Court expressly restrained and prohibited the Nigeria Police Force from forcefully taking possession of the property and from detaining or harassing our client and its workers.
This Judgment was honored by the former Inspector General of Police who had immediately seized further action or attempt to forcefully take possession of the property.
“However, on the 16th day of April 2024, at about the hour of 4pm, a crowd of heavily armed policemen acting on your instruction and led by DCP A. A. Elleman and Ahmad Mohammed of the IGP Monitoring Unit, Abuja stormed our client’s property in a commando grand style and evicted our client from the property, causing them to leave behind equipment and materials worth hundreds of millions in the site.
“Your men were harassing everyone on sight and shooting sporadically and contrary to Force Order 237 on the use of firearms by the Police.
“The invaders stationed about 12 of their men and went away with our client’s security man called Mohammed Garba and have detained him till date.”
According to Oketa, all attempts to get them to grant Senan Integrated Nigeria Limited’s workers administrative bail has proved abortive as Ahmad Mohammed, claiming to be acting under the IGP’s instruction, has refused to grant the law firm audience “on the condition our client’s Managing Director, who you have concluded plans to excessively detain and force him to submit to whims and caprices, must be produced.
“We must state that we are not opposed to the purported investigation of any perceived crime by the Nigeria Police Force, but such purported investigation must be carried out within the ambit of the law.
“While the Nigeria Police is statutorily empowered to investigate crimes, it is not empowered under any known law to decide ownership of land and extra-judiciary restrict anyone from the development, use and occupation of land.”
He said that “The purpose of this letter is to respectfully demand that you refrain from taking any further extra-judicial action in violation of the two subsisting judgments of the Courts by immediately removing your officers from the property, restoring our client’s lawful possession of same and desist from further violating our client’s fundamental rights by detaining or further detaining its directors and workers in respect of this matter.
“The only option opened to our client’s opponents is to approach the Appeal Court, if they are interested in the ownership of the land and dissatisfied with the subsisting verdicts of the FCT High Courts as you cannot grant them ownership and lawful possession of the land as doing so will at best amount to a pyrrhic victory and not worth the devastating legal consequences which we graphically poised to bring to bear on your person and the very exalted office you occupy.”