Court Dismisses Lawyers’ Suit Against IGP, Lagos CP
Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court has dismissed a fundamental human rights suit filed by two lawyers, Jama Onwubuariri and Joseph Iwunze, alongside their company, Truck Tech Platforms Limited, against the inspector general of police, Lagos police commissioner and a shareholder in the company Temidayo Adeboye.
Osiagor dismissed the suit, holding that the applicants could not stop the police from performing their statutory duty.
The applicants (Onwubuariri, Iwunze, and Truck Tech Platforms limited) in their Originating Summons in suit No, FHC/ L/ CS/ 1423/ 2022, had dragged the IGP, the police commissioner, officer in charge monitoring unit, the police command in Lagos and Temidayo Adeboye before the court.
They asked the court to declare that the first and second respondents and other officers under their control have no statutory or constitutional power to interfere in a dispute amongst shareholders arising from or relating to shareholding ownership, management and control of the 3rd applicant, a private company.
They also prayed for a declaration that the harassment, invitation and arrest of the first and second applicants by the police commissioner’s monitoring team, Lagos command (Ikeja), over a civil dispute arising from control and management of the third applicant, is illegal, unconstitutional, and a breach of the applicant’s fundamental rights under sections 3, 35 and 41 of the Constitution.
Besides, the applicants prayed for a declaration that the fourth respondent’s (Adeboye) petition against the applicants, to the first respondent, when the same Adeboye had instituted several civil suits marked FHC/L/CS/414/2022, NICN/LA/113/2022, and FHC/L/CP/1158/2022, was a gross abuse of court processes, forum shopping, and a breach of their fundamental rights to carry on business and therefore constitutes a violation of the applicant’s fundamental right guaranteed under sections 34, 35 and 41, of the constitution.
The fourth respondent, Temidayo Adeboye, had petitioned the police over alleged stealing of shares, forgery of the company register, and falsification of entries in the company’s register.
Osiagor, in his judgment, held that in a comprehensive police investigation that culminated in the O/C/legal conclusion, stated, “It is our legal opinion that while parties may adopt a civil approach at the Federal High Court to dissipate with their civil proceedings, Jama Onwubuariri and joseph Iwunze are culpable for criminal act for falsification, obtaining credit by false pretence or other fraud.
They are to be arraigned in court contrary to sections 411 and 315 of the criminal law of Lagos state 2015.”
The court held that the facts of the case unequivocally present the twin elements of a civil claim pending before the Federal High Court and a police finding worth prosecution.
The court held that the applicant’s fundamental right application seeks the court’s intervention, setting aside all steps taken by the police and restraining the police from further inviting, arresting, detaining, molesting, interfering or arraigning the first and second applicants.
The judge further held that citizens’ fundamental rights are never absolute and can be derogated from, as provided by the Constitution itself, Section 35 (1) (C).
The court held that the police “are empowered to prosecute for a crime” by the Police Act and Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The judge added, “Therefore, pending the determination of the the civil rights and obligations of the fourth respondent and the applicants in various courts the police can upon its concluded investigation take reasonable steps to execute the same.
“Fundamental rights enforcement is not an instrument to stop statutory duty. The application fails and is accordingly dismissed.”
