Unlawful Detention: Business Woman Sues Umahi, Others,Demands N800m Damages

Alleging unlawful detention, a business woman has dragged Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State to court, demanding N800 million in damages.

She equally joins the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali and the Ebonyi State Police Command in the case, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Abuja-based businesswoman, Dr. Jackie Ikeotuonye, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Andrew  Bishopton Limited and partners, is through her lawyer, Henry Chukwudi Esq. pleading a gross breach of fundamental human rights.

Citing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As amended) and Articles 4, 5, 6, 12 and 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, revised laws of the federation, she holds that her fundamental rights as a free Nigerian citizen had been breached by the defendants.

In suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/122/2023, she demands the payment of a total sum of N800 million from Governor Umahi, the IGP, and the Ebonyi State Police Command for unlawful arrest, intimidation, harassment and detention that infringed on her fundamental human right.

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She, through her lawyer, Henry Chukwudi Esq seeks a court order directing the 1st and 2nd Respondents to pay her the sum of 500, 000,000 (Five Hundred Million Naira) only being damages for instigating her unlawful arrest, detention and intimidation by officers and men of the 3rd and 4th Respondents.

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Dr. Ikeotuonye’s Counsel, Henry Chukwudi Esq in conjunction with Kolawole Olowookere Chambers, Abuja, deposed that the arrest and harassment of his client by the officers of the 3rd and 4th Respondents upon the instigation of the 1st and 2nd Respondents over the lawful debt owed to her company without any justification is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.

The Counsel further seeks an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 3rd and 4th Respondents, whether by themselves, their agents, officers, proxies, or servants whosoever from further unlawful intimidation, the threat of arrest, disturbance, arrest or detention of the 1st Applicant in any manner whatsoever.

The suit said that the transaction giving rise to this application for which the 1st and 2nd

Respondents instigated the 3rd and 4th respondents to arrest, harass, and continuous threat to arrest and intimidate the applicants, arose from a breach of contract and refusal to obey court orders by the defendants.

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“The continuous harassment, intimidation, and threat to arrest the Applicant are threats to her freedom of movement and by extension a threat to her life and business if not restrained by the Court.

“The further threat of arrest, harassment, and intimidation of the Applicant given the facts and circumstances of this case constitute a violation of the Fundamental Right Provisions contained in the Constitution of the The Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As amended) and Articles 4, 5, 6, 12, and 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Revised Laws of the Federation.

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“The Applicant is entitled to the enjoyment and the protection of her Fundamental Human Rights by this Honourable Court as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,” the suit declared.

It will be recalled that Dr. Ikeotuonye had dragged the Ebonyi State Government to court for refusal to pay her company, Andrew Bishopton Limited, and partner, Mauritz Walton Nigeria Limited their agreed fees after the State engaged them to recover money wrongly deducted by the federal government on foreign loans from the state government between 1995 and 2002.

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This appointment, according to her was followed by a consultancy services agreement signed between the state and Andrew Bishopton on the 17th of November 2015 where it was stated that the State would pay the company 25% of the sum reconciled, recovered, and paid into the account of the State by the Federal Government.

The Ebonyi State government reneged in the agreement to pay, prompting Ikeotuonye and partners to seek a court injunction in another suit in which the judgment was given in her favour, and the bank accounts of the Ebonyi State government was ordered by the court to be garnished.

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Instead of obeying the court order, the Ebonyi State governor allegedly employed the instrumentality of the police to arrest, detain, and flew Dr. Ikeotuonye from Abuja to Abakaliki, where she was allegedly coerced to sign an agreement that she would not approach the court to enforce her fundamental human rights.

“Since then Governor Umahi, instead of making effort to pay us the fees owed us despite intervention by governors and other prominent Nigerians, has been after me insisting that I must go to Port Harcourt, and file an application to set aside the judgment. I have been strongly advised against this by legal experts. The Governor, rather than appeal the judgment or pay us, has been hounding me.”