… Seeks ₦50m damages

… Alleges hotel invasion without warrant in ‘gestapo manner’

A former Deputy Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly and All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency, Ayodeji Arowele, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, and the Nigeria Police Force over his arrest hours before the party’s primary election last month.

The suit, which was filed at the Federal High Court, had the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), ASP Ebito Ephraim, CSP Hilary Mazi, and one Mr. Yusuf Sanya Isiaka as defendants.

The development comes less than 24 hours after the Ondo State Government, through the Commissioner for Information, Idowu Ajanaku, complained about the activities of officers from the Force Intelligence Department (FID) in parts of the state.

Arowele, a two-term lawmaker, is challenging the circumstances surrounding his detention on May 16, 2026, which he argued was timed to disrupt his participation in the APC primary for the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In the suit filed by his counsel, Kunle Ijalana, pursuant to Order 11 Rules 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, the former legislator is seeking a declaration that the invasion of his hotel room in Owo was illegal and constituted a flagrant violation of his rights to privacy, personal liberty, and human dignity as enshrined in Sections 36, 42, and 46 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

According to the court documents, Arowele is praying the court to declare that the invasion of his hotel room by police officers on the directive of the IGP and at the instigation of the fourth defendant was unconstitutional and an abuse of power.

He is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police from further arresting, threatening, or inviting him over the same allegation.

The former lawmaker is also demanding the sum of ₦50 million as general damages for the alleged violation of his rights to privacy and personal liberty.

In a petition to the IGP, he alleged that about 30 policemen, led by CSP Hilary Mazi and ASP Ebito Ephraim, claiming to be from the Inspector-General’s Response Team, invaded his hotel room in a “gestapo manner” without a warrant of arrest.

Arowele stated that he was rough-handled and brutalized when he requested to see the warrant, and that his personal security details from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were also assaulted, with one operative losing a tooth in the process.

The petition read in parts, “It is instructive to know, sir, that our client was one of the aspirants contesting under the All Progressive Congress (APC) for Owo/Ose Federal Constituency in the 2027 General Election. The primary election was ordinarily slated for the same day our client was arrested.

“Further, our brief was that our client was subsequently invited to the office of the Area Commander on the 10th of June, 2026, where he was informed by the Area Commander that he had been instructed by your office to cause an investigation into a petition against him by one Mr. Yusuf Sanya Isiaka.”

He was later released on bail at the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 17, Akure, after about six hours in custody, where he was instructed to report to the police headquarters in Abuja after the primary election.

The former lawmaker further contended that despite his release and the transfer of the case file to the Area Commander in Owo, who has jurisdiction over the alleged assault, the investigating officers have continued to threaten him with arrest and have repeatedly summoned him to Abuja.