A businessman, Raqeeb Quadri Adeshile has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) seeking for withdrawal of multiple ‘malicious’ criminal charges filed against him by the Police.

The charges, he said, were filed at the instance of his business partner, Musa Akinleye, an official of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

The petition, titled, “Request For An Urgent Intervention In Respect of a Petition Against Musa Akinleye and Orbzenergy Limited And Criminal Suit Instituted Against Mr. Raqeeb Quadri Adeshile” was written by his lawyer, Jedidiah Akpata.

In the petition dated December 13, 2023, Adeshile called for a comprehensive investigation of all the issues that gave rise to the multiple charges against him.

He specifically drew the attention of the IGP to the two charges filed against him before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Lagos State High Court, respectively.

According to the petitioner, charge No: FCT/CR/260/202 and charge No: LD/21904C/2023 were filed against him before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and Lagos State High Court respectively bordered on the same allegations.

The Petitioner, who is a maritime industry professional, stated that he had been operating a business outfit, although unregistered.

He said sometime in 2018, he approached his friend Akinleye, a public officer and staff of the NDIC, (which was not brought to his attention at the material time) with the offer to use his company name to secure business contracts in respect of the maritime business, especially container terminal contracts.

As a result of the foregoing, he was made a forty-five per cent shareholder and Director of the company, Orbzenergy Limited.

In furtherance of the business venture, the Petitioner said he oversaw the day-to-day running of the business in its operational site in Lagos, while Akinleye, was the Managing Director, and remains the sole signatory to the accounts operated and maintained by the company.

The Petitioner stated that as a result of alleged poor financial management and other ancillary issues which he was not comfortable with, Akinleye and other shareholders, through unlawful means, purportedly removed him as a director of the company.

He said he was oblivious to the said unlawful removal as Director of the company until a petition was written against him to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja.

He said in the petition, he was accused of financial misappropriation, even though he is not a signatory to the company accounts.

The Petitioner stated: “Shortly before our client could respond, he was arrested at Ibadan and brought to Abuja to answer to a charge filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, where he is currently standing trial.

“We will like to bring to your attention the fact that there has been a series of lawsuits filed, both civil and criminal, between the same parties and over the same issue which is the predicate of this instant suit filed by your good office against our client, which hitherto may not have been drawn to your attention, to help you assuage our position.

“We, therefore, urge you to take cognisance of the following court cases pending against our client.

“Our client was charged to court by EFCC in suit No: FCT/CR/260/2021 between Federal Republic of Nigeria v Quadri Raqeeb Adeshile. In this suit, two of the counts, namely; Count 1 and Count 2 are already before the FCT High Court for adjudication.

“The current matter which has been filed against our client at the High Court of Lagos State, apart from being one instituted in bad faith by unscrupulous persons who intend to use the Police to foster their selfish cause and foist injustice on our client, equally amounts to lack of fair hearing, abuse of court process and deprivation of constitutional safeguards.”

The petitioner said he had earlier petitioned against his estranged business partner to the Attorney General of the Federation, with the Chairman of the NDIC, the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau and the IGP, all in copy.

According to him, he wanted an investigation into how a public officer could at the same time be a managing director of a limited company in Nigeria, which he believes is a gross breach of the laws of the land.

“Moreover, we have equally written a petition against Mr. Akinleye at the Force CID in Abuja which has so far been swept under the carpet. This is an attempt by unscrupulous people to sabotage the wheels of justice by using the police as an instrument to advance their interests.

“Our allegation on this point is founded on the fact that after the petition was submitted and received, nothing was done in respect of it.

“It was these discrepancies that led the former DIG to instruct that the two petitions (the one written by Mr. Akinleye and our client) be harmonised and investigation conducted into them.

“Quite unfortunately, the team tasked with this duty did not harmonise the petition but went on to charge our client to court without acting on our client’s petition, thereby misleading the legal department into filing these charges against our client.

“This further led to the file being retrieved from that Unit and handed over to the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Police Special Squad Unit to reconcile these fundamental differences,” he wrote and appealed to the Police boss to intervene and ensure that justice is done, without his client being a victim of malicious prosecution and double jeopardy.