HURIWA calls on IGP and AGF to investigate pending petition against senior police officials

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate a long-standing petition to his office by Nigerian-American national, Bonaventure Ezekwenna, accusing some senior police officers at the Police Headquarters in Abuja of a series of corrupt practices.

The human rights group said some of the allegations were so serious that, if verified, these police officers should be sanctioned to protect national security.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, has mandated the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to also investigate the allegations to determine whether there are elements of fraud so that the individuals can be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the rule of law.

The human rights group stressed that the Police Service Commission must play a central role in conducting an independent investigation into the allegations in order to bring the accused to justice.

Ezekwenna had said in the petition: “I feel compelled to write you this open letter in the hope that your attention will help overcome the alleged gross corruption I have witnessed since August 2022 at the FCID headquarters in Abuja, the country's highest investigative agency of the Nigerian Police Force.

“This case concerns the gross corruption of a police officer attached to the Special Enquiry Bureau, Force Criminal Investigation Department (SEB-FCID) based in Abuja, Nigeria.

“Recently (June 20, 2024), I presented a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Dr. Kayode Egbetokun, which I have copied to the Chairman, Police Service Commission, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, and the United States Consulate General in Nigeria.

“In the petition, I have detailed the alleged specific criminal offences and misdeeds of a very corrupt CSP in SEB-FCID Headquarters, Abuja, who was allegedly hired by a hardened Yahoo crime syndicate based in Nnobi Town, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State, Nigeria, to thwart my efforts to obtain justice in the Nigerian judicial system.

“This allegedly corrupt police officer and his team arrested me knowing full well that these were fabricated false statements in order to intimidate, frighten, blackmail and force me to give up my search for justice in the Nigerian legal system.

“This allegedly corrupt police officer and his team unlawfully detained me overnight at the Area F Police Command, Ikeja, Lagos because I refused to comply with their enormous greed and demand for bribes.”

The complainant further alleged that the police officer refused to interview and record the statement of a citizen of the Republic of Benin who allegedly confessed to membership in a hardcore Yahoo+ cult syndicate in Nnobi and Amichi towns of Anambra State on the grounds that the allegedly confessed cult member had exposed the criminal activities of the crime syndicate that the officer was trying to protect.

The complainant accused the police officer of suppressing the incriminating statements made by the gang member from the Republic of Benin to SCID Lagos and FCID Alagbon Lagos, in which he allegedly revealed the alleged criminal activities of his group within the Yahoo+ cult in Nnobi and Amichi towns and other surrounding towns in Anambra State.