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), Olatunji Disu, and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over his arrest hours before the party’s primary election last month.
 
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court, had the NPF, ASP Ebito Ephraim, CSP Hilary Mazi, and Mr Yusuf Sanya Isiaka as defendants.
 
The development came 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, arguing that it disrupted 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 4th 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 N50 million in 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 brutalised 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.