The matter is now before the Federal High Court, Abeokuta Judicial Division, in Suit No: FHC/AR/FHC/149/2025, filed under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009.
An Abeokuta-based citizen, Mr. Adedamola Adetayo, has approached the Federal High Court in Abeokuta, accusing the Nigeria Police Force of harassing, intimidating, and threatening his life.
The allegations reportedly stem from a defamation complaint linked to former governorship candidate in Ondo State and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Chief Olusola Oke, SAN.
In the suit filed on December 15 through his Solicitor, Chief Adekunle Funmilayo, Adetayo claims that officers attached to the Life Camp Police Division, Abuja, repeatedly threatened him, placed him under surveillance and attempted to compel him to travel to Abuja, despite the dispute being, according to him, purely civil in nature.
The matter is now before the Federal High Court, Abeokuta Judicial Division, in Suit No: FHC/AR/FHC/149/2025, filed under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009.
In the suit, Adetayo is named as the Applicant with the Nigeria Police Force, the Police Service Commission, the Inspector-General of Police, and one Mr. Shaibu Omachonu sued as 1st to 4th Respondents.
According to the originating motion and affidavit sworn to by Adetayo, the alleged harassment began on November 27, 2025, when a man identified as Mr. Shaibu Omachonu, said to be a police officer attached to Life Camp Police Station, Abuja, called him and allegedly issued threats.
“I was very surprised to receive a call from the 4th Respondent… threatening to deal mercilessly with me if I did not report to him in Abuja,” Adetayo stated on oath.
He further alleged that when he requested a formal police invitation, none was provided.
“The 4th Respondent did not state the particular section the Applicant should report to in the station in Abuja,” the court papers read, adding that the caller “kept on calling… threatening to deal with him if he did not report to Abuja.”
Adetayo told the court that the repeated calls and alleged threats left him “afraid for his life,” particularly given Nigeria’s current security challenges.
In his affidavit, the 55-year-old applicant cited age, ill health and insecurity as reasons he could not safely travel to Abuja. He disclosed that he suffers from asthma and acute hypertension and is currently under medical supervision in Abeokuta.
“I cannot also travel by road because of the current insecurity bedeviling the Kogi/Kabba axis leading to Abuja, as there are daily reports of kidnapping and armed robbery,” he deposed.
He further told the court that he once attempted to travel but had to stop in Akure due to health complications, attaching a hotel receipt as evidence.
Adetayo argued that since “the Nigeria Police Force is one,” there was no justification for insisting that he travel to Abuja, rather than allowing any investigation to be conducted in Abeokuta, where he resides.
In the suit, Adetayo is asking the court to declare that the alleged threats, harassment and intimidation violate his fundamental rights under Sections 33, 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Among other reliefs, he is seeking, "A declaration that the ‘continuous threat of arrest, detention and intimidation’ is unlawful and unconstitutional.
"An order restraining the police and their agents from further harassing or intimidating him.
"An order directing that any investigation, if necessary, be conducted in Abeokuta rather than Abuja."
“I have rushed to this Honourable Court to save my life which the Respondents are threatening to snuff out,” he further informed the court,
Letter to Chief Olusola Oke
Adding a political and legal dimension to the controversy is a letter dated December 30, 2025, written by A.O. Ajulo & Partners and signed by its Managing Partner, Mr. Adedotun Ajulo, Esq., and addressed directly to Oke.
The letter titled “Re: Arrest of Mr. Adedamola Adetayo by the Police – ‘If You Seek the Protection of the Law; Its Rule Must Equally Be Respected and Preserved’”, cautioned against what it described as the criminalisation of a civil defamation dispute.
“As an elder statesman and eminent legal practitioner, you should exercise restraint and circumspection in involving the Police in a matter that, on the face of it, appears to be civil in nature,” Ajulo wrote.
He warned that deploying the police in such circumstances “risks being perceived, rightly or wrongly, as harassment, intimidation, or oppression of a citizen who does not enjoy comparable access or influence.”
The letter further alleged that despite efforts at reconciliation and the filing of a Fundamental Rights Enforcement action, Abuja-based police officers continued to contact Adetayo.
“It has been reported that officers of the Nigeria Police Force, particularly one Shuaibu from Abuja, have continued unabatedly to place calls to Mr. Adetayo, allegedly accompanied by verbal threats and abusive language,” the letter stated.
Ajulo added that information reaching Adetayo suggested that his phone was being tracked and that “enormous resources has allegedly been mobilised to ensure his immediate arrest.”
More controversially, the correspondence referenced rumours that influential individuals other than Oke himself might be involved in driving the police action.
“There are also disturbing rumours which I sincerely hope is unfounded suggesting that your wife, Mrs. Nkem Olusola-Oke, may be involved… purportedly in furtherance of certain personal allegiances or associations involving Mrs. Betty Akeredolu, former First Lady of Ondo State,” the letter read.
Ajulo added in the letter, “While I make no definitive assertion in this regard… should this matter escalate, the issue of motive underlying what is perceived as an oppressive deployment of state power… will inevitably become a subject of judicial inquiry.”
The lawyer urged Chief Oke to reflect on the broader implications of the matter, especially given the pending court case.
“As a legal practitioner of the highest standing, it bears asking whether it is consistent with respect for the judicial process for the Police to persist in pursuing a citizen who has already submitted himself to the jurisdiction of a competent court,” Ajulo wrote.
He also warned that “any untoward incident occurring in the course of transporting Mr. Adetayo to Abuja would be most unfortunate and could cast an indelible shadow on an otherwise illustrious legacy.”
As it is, the Federal High Court in Abeokuta is expected to hear the application, which may clarify the legality of police involvement in defamation disputes and the limits of law enforcement powers where fundamental rights are alleged to be at risk.