The Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo has issued a judgment mandating the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, the Police Service Commission, and four others to compensate Peace Robert, a housewife and mother of two, with the sum of N200m for the unlawful arrest and detention she experienced.
Justice Ntong Ntong delivered the verdict in a fundamental rights case brought by the applicant.
The case involved an incident where Ifenyinwa Olua asked Peace Robert to connect her with someone in Europe who could purchase euros and pay her in Naira. Following the transfer of £55,000, which amounted to N42.9m in a Spanish account, the account holder reported the transactions to the Spanish authorities. As a result, the Spanish authorities placed restrictions on the account due to suspicions regarding the source of the funds, leading to the arrest of the applicant by the police.
The respondents in the case included the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Administration, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja, Mr. Babazango Ibrahim; DSP Yusuf Dauda of Anti-Homicide Section, Alagbon in Lagos, Inspector Celestina Ugbaja of Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos, and the Police Service Commission.
Justice Ntong Ntong criticized the actions of the police, stating that they disregarded the constitution, court orders, and showed disrespect towards the name of God and the office of the President.
The court also instructed the IGP and five other respondents to return the N15m collected from the applicant to the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Abuja during the pendency of the criminal charge against the applicant.
