The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali, was on Thursday advised to investigate and bring to justice, a supposed gender officer of the police simply identified as ASP Samson found terrorizing some Baales (village heads) in Ibadan on land matters.
ASP Samson, according to a petition sent to the IGP on Wednesday April 19, 2023 by 22 Baales in Ona Ara Local Government area of Oyo State and a Senior Chief in the city, Chief Dotun Sanusi was fingered in the ongoing unlawful persecution of residents of Akintola village in Ona Ara and diversionary invitation of Chiefs in a matter they knew nothing about.
The ‘illegal activities’ of the said officer, who was saddled with gender matters but regrettably dabbling in land matters, according to the Council of Baales under the leadership of Baale Yekini Obisesan, was in contravention to his duty call and the position of the Inspector General and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Solomon Arase.
Both IGP and Arase had variously been quoted on the need for the police officers to refrain from dabbling in land matters in order to avoid ridiculing the force and exposing the police authority to unnecessary litigation that may arise therefrom.
The police chiefs had warned recently thus: ‘One of the issues that I have had to tackle is the incidence of people dabbling into land matters. The police do not have the constitutional power to allocate land to anybody; they cannot do that. The only people that have the right to do that is the civil court.
“So, you people must be able to draw the thin line between what is criminal, what is civil and what is commercial because whenever you dabble into civil and commercial issues, you attract civil litigation to the Nigeria Police Force. And when you do that, you have to take garnishee orders.”
The Baales said that the officer, Samson working in the Gender Unit in the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Area 10, Abuja was being used to harass, intimidate and threaten people as a decoy by people of questionable character to victimise and threaten influential and innocent people in the society.
According to them, this officer simply identified as ASP Samson, with telephone number 08052531330, also had the effrontery to invite Chief Dotun Sanusi, a Senior Chief in the city who knew nothing about the disputed land to appear in Abuja for alleged threat to life of yet to be identified persons, masquerading as land grabbers on an expanse of land in Akintola village, Akanran in Ona Ara Local Government area.
Sanusi, an Ibadan-based billionaire businessman and a philanthropist, who was seen as highly influential to stop him (ASP Samson) from further arrests and harassment cum invitation of Baales to Abuja for a matter that was long adjudicated upon with justice entered by an Oyo State High Court Judge, Justice A. G. Sunmonu, was also invited by the said officer.
The copies of the petition by the village heads, dated Wednesday April 19, 2023, were also sent to the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) in charge of of Zone XI, Osogbo, comprising Oyo and Osun State, Commissioner of Police in the state as well as the Director of Department of State Services (DSS), and the Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council.
The Baales alleged that a suspected land grabber, trading under Paragon Estate, wanted to grab 250 acres of land in Akanran, with the aid of ASP Samson.
The petition, entitled: ‘Threat to Life, Unlawful arrest, intimidation and illegal acquisition of 95 acres of land at Akintola village, Akanran, Ona-Ara Local Government of Oyo State’, was made available to journalists in Ibadan on Thursday. It was signed by Sanusi and the 22 village heads.
They further alleged that the atrocities of said ASP Samson alongside one Akinrogun of Ibeju Lekki, Chief Jelili Akande, on a long settled disputed land which an Oyo State High Court had entered judgment into, is already before the Oyo State Government Task Force on Land Matters.
‘For even contravening the IGP who was reported to have warned officers on land matters, we (undersigned Baales) demand panel of enquiry to investigate the interest of ASP Samson and other officers in this matter.
‘That this same ASP Samson unlawfully arrested and detained a resident of the area at a police facility in Orita Challenge Ibadan before the innocent man was forcibly whisked to Abuja the following day and made to write statement under duress. This calls for further investigation and punishment must be served accordingly.
‘Using threats on people including traditional rulers to appear before him or vacate their land when he is not a judge or court of law, also calls to question the integrity of the said officer and we therefore, demand from both the IGP and the PSC Chairman, Solomon Arase to wade in, immediately and ensure thorough investigation of this officer.
‘Since experience has shown that these so-called property developers have been using the police officers to coerce innocent people and lawful land owners to vacate their lands or forfeits same after series of human right abuses, intimidation, harassment including threats to lives, the IGP and the PSC must not allow this matter to be swept under the carpet because an injury to one is an injury to all.
“For the umpteenth time, we are using this medium to officially complain against this unlawful police action in a purely civil matter. Anybody who feels he is the rightful owner of a land needs not resort to self-help by using the police to threaten people but should rather heads to the court to proof his case.
‘This officer, ASP Samson and his type destroying the image of the Force and going against the instructions of the IGP should be punished to serve as a deterrent to other officers.
‘The officer boasting that he was above the law and could not be called to question on this civil matter and not gender affair with which he was saddled with, should be probed thoroughly and investigated for justice to be served,’ the Baales added.
The Council of Baales thereafter issued a petition to the Governor of Oyo State; the IGP, the PSC Chairman, Chief Judge of Oyo State; the Commissioner of Police; the Director of DSS; the Chairman, NUJ Oyo State, among others to warn of dire consequences of further harassment of residents on the disputed land or the chiefs in the area.
The village heads described the ongoing several invitations being extended to residents in the area on the alleged influence of one Chief Jelili Akande, the Akinrogun of Ibeju-Lekki as provocative.
“After a crucial meeting held on Wednesday, we write to inform your office about threat to life, unlawful arrest, intimidation, harassment and illegal acquisition of 95 acres of land at Akintola Village, Akanran.
“The nefarious activities are allegedly being perpetrated by one Akinrogun of Ibeju-Lekki, Chief Jelili Akande, the chief promoter of Paragon Estate. Akande is perpetrating the act with active connivance of one officer from the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID), Area 10, Abuja, simply identified as ASP Samson, with telephone number 08052531330,” they said.
The petitioners said that the disputed land has been resolved by the Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, in a suit with number: I/443/2014. They said that Justice G.A. Sunmonu had on March 19, 2020 delivered a judgment in favour of Alhaji Rasheed Eniayenfe Ojo, and Good Foundation Social Club, who were the defendants in the case.
