Kidnap suspect sues police for demolishing family house

 
Tony Okafor, Awka

A kidnap suspect, Izuchukwu Amalunwoke of Umuchem Village, Ojoto, in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, has sued the police for N210m for allegedly demolishing his family house.

He dragged officers and men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad in Anambra to a Federal High Court, sitting in Awka, for “maliciously destroying a four- bedroom house of the Amalunwoke family.

Joined in the suit were the Nigerian Police Force, the Inspector General of Police, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, and the officer in charge of SARS, Ichi Station, among others.

In the suit dated September 28, 2016, the plaintiff sought, among other reliefs, a declaration that the damage and collapse of his building by SARS was unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.

He sought “an order mandating the defendants to reconstruct the building of the plaintiff collapsed, or, in the alternative, an order for the defendants to pay him N60 million for the reconstruction of the said building.

The plaintiff asked for an order of the court mandating the defendants(police) to pay him the sum of N150m being general damages, as well as an order mandating the defendants to “publish an apology letter in a national daily for the plaintiff’s building destroyed “.

Amalunwoke claimed that on July 28, 2013, he was arrested over an allegation of kidnapping.

He said he was taken to Ojoto Police Station in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State where one Elijah Isaiah was the Divisional Police Officer.

The DPO, he said, later handed him over to the men of Special Anti Robbery Squad, Ichi, Ekwusigo LGA, where Mr. James Nwafor was the officer-in-charge, in order to have what he called “a discreet investigation”.

He said that one officer identified as Fred Adoloye was the Investigation Police Officer assigned to his matter.

He added that after investigation, Adoloye and other officers, who handled his case, found him innocent and released him on bail.

“Not too long”, he continued, “James Nwafor was transferred out of Ichi and Mr. Eyong Obula replaced him as officer-in-charge.

“On his arrival, Mr. Obula, having met with one Mr. Michael Chukwuemeka, a man from my village, who had been instigating the allegation, resurrected the matter and, again, Obula directed the same IPO, Fred Adoloye, to conduct fresh investigation.”

He claimed that the new O/C SARS, Eyong Obula; the IPO, Fred Adoloye and Michael Chukwuemeka, working in concert with each other, hired an earth mover, brought it to his family house and used same to destroy his family house on the allegation that he was a kidnapper.

He said, “They said that I had been using the said house as a place where victims of kidnap were kept.”

When contacted on the telephone, the Anambra state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Nkeiru Nwode, said the police had been notified of Amalunwoke’s lawsuit, saying, “We are studying it”.