A lawyer, Oladimeji Ekengba, has tasked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to stop what he described as the unlawful interference in a court case, by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), who works in the IGP Monitoring Unit.
The DCP was accused of meddling in an ongoing fraud case before the Federal High Court, Lagos.
In an open letter to the IGP, Ekengba accused the DCP of aiding a female suspected fraudster—who is facing trial and has an active bench warrant against her—to flee the country, allegedly for personal and financial gain.
He explained that the officer, who is a lawyer, had been previously sanctioned by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) in a petition marked BB/LPDC/1627/2025 over professional misconduct.
According to Ekengba, the fraud case, marked FHC/L/745C/2024 before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, had undergone multiple investigations by high-ranking police authorities, all of which concluded that the legal process should take its course
However, the DCP disregarded a court order by attempting to withdraw the case and facilitating the suspect’s escape.
According to him, despite these efforts, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) intercepted and arrested the suspect after discovering that her passport had been flagged.
The arrest reportedly raised questions about why the IGP Monitoring Unit had sought to assist her departure in defiance of a Federal High Court order.
Ekengba further alleged that Fakorede had instructed senior police officers at Alagbon to release the suspect’s passport under the pretext of an official directive from the IGP, even though Justice D.I. Dipeolu had issued an order on January 2, 2025 (FHC/L/CA/2318/2024) restraining him from any interference in the case.
The petitioner called on the Inspector General of Police to take decisive action, emphasising that Nigeria must not become a “banana republic” where police officers disregard the rule of law with impunity.
He cautioned that officers with a history of disobedience to court orders should not be entrusted with sensitive positions such as the IGP Monitoring Unit.
