By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Lateef Fagbemi and the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun have been called upon to intervene in an alleged unlawful detention of a banker, Chinenye Duru by Police since December 11, last year.
Duru, a staff of Polaris Bank was said to have been arrested and clamped into detention by police in Abuja on the strength of a petition by the founder of Living Christ Mission, Rev Victor Obiajunwa Onukaogu popularly known as “Daddy Hezekiah”.
It was not exactly clear what manner of transaction was between both men and refunds it appears the banker has been making, since clamped into detention.
The order for his detention issued on December 22, 2023 was however voided and set aside by a Nasarawa State Chief Magistrate Abdulsalam Abubakar sitting in Karu on January 3, 2024.
A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowo in a ruling on January 5, 2024 ordered Police to immediately release the detainee from the custody but the two orders were yet to be complied with.
The lawyers operating under the aegis of “Lawyers in Defense of Democracy and Human Rights”, demanded the immediate release of the detainee or in the alternative, charge him before law court for any offence he may have committed.
While faulting the detention of the banker on the ground that it is being done in flagrant disobedience to lawful orders of courts, the lawyers alleged that the fundamental rights of the banker are being unlawfully trampled upon.
At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, one of the lawyers, Barrister Okere Kingdom Nnamdi said that the arrest and detention of the banker is in violation of sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution.
The legal practitioners claimed that the detained banker was an account officer to the church founder and had series of business transactions before the relationship became sour.
They recalled that the church founder once petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) leading to the invitation of the detainee but left off when nothing incriminating was established against him.
Following the refusal of the EFCC to do unlawful bidding, the petitioner was said to have shifted his actions against the banker to the Police through a retired Assistant Inspector General of AIG.
They claimed that since December 11 last year, the Police at Zone 4 have been allegedly acting as debt recovery officers for the petitioners with the unlawful detention and refusal to grant bail to the bank worker.
The lawyers maintained that the order of a Magistrate court being used to detain the banker had since been voided and set aside while that of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering his release and served on police were not respected and obeyed.
Insisting that the banker and the Church founder had differences over spiritual matters, the lawyers pleaded with the AGF and IGP to rescue the detainee from the claws of police in Zone 4 by wading into his unlawful detention.
“Under Police Act 2020, the major aims and objectives, powers and responsibility of the Nigeria Police is to maintain law and order and preserve human rights of the citizens, the Nigeria Police is not a debt recovery agent and this fact has been so decided by the Apex Court in the land”.
“The illegal act of using the Police to harass and intimidate citizens with the aim of recovering debt is atrocious, nefarious, illegal and condemnable and we call on the IGP to put a stop to this barbaric police brutality and illegality”, the lawyers said.