Group Petitions AGF over Unlawful Prosecution of ACADIP Members

Wale Igbintade

A civil society group, Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA), has written to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, over illegal prosecution of the leader of Academy of Islamic Propagation (ACADIP), Alhaji Yusuf Adepoju, and six others for alleged cybercrime.

In a letter dated August 6, 2024, and signed by human rights lawyer, Lekan Alabi, he questioned the legal justification for the prosecution of Yusuf Adepoju, Mubarak Adepoju, Tunde Badmus (aka Uptown), Adelakun Gideon, and Abdul Rasaq Akinola without any investigation by the police.

According to him, the defendants in respect of Charge No: FHC/4421/22 between Federal Republic of Nigeria V. Muhammed Yahaya and six Ors. pending before Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division were never showed any petition of allegation of crime before the charge was pressed against them.

He stated that they were never invited by the officers of Nigeria Police Force, Zone 2 Command to make representation about the allegations of crime against them.

The letter read: “The officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Zone 2, Command never showed any petition of allegation of crime by one Ustaz Jamiu Adegunwa or any other person(s) before the charge was pressed against them.

“The officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Zone 2 Command did not investigate the allegation of cybercrime levied against them by one Ustaz Jamiu Adegunwa or any other person(s).”

According to him, the alleged defendants were highly surprised and embarrassed that there is a pending charge against them before the Federal High Court, Lagos.

“As a human rights organization, we do not see any legal justification for the prosecution of the defendants without any investigation by the police. We want to respectfully believe that some compromised members of staff in the Federal Ministry of Justice are hell bent in undermining the enormous power of the Attorney General by turning it to a weapon of vendetta against innocent citizens of this country. We cannot see any legal or/and moral basis for railroading innocent citizens to prison in the name of prosecution without investigation.

“We believe that the involvement of the office of the learned Attorney General was the vestige of the last administration before the emergence of the current seasoned and tested Attorney-General of the Federation.

The group urged the AGF to investigate the Assistant Chief State Counsel, T.A. Mukuolu, about his role on who instructed him to take over the charge on behalf of the office of the Attorney-General and why a minister in the temple of justice could shut his eyes on the obvious facts stated on oath, by the police that the allegation of crime against the defendants had not been investigated by them before the  charge was preferred.

“Equally, we call on your office to investigate the procedure which Oladayo Ogungbe obtained a fiat to prosecute the defendants without investigation by the police.

“We humbly call on your office to expeditiously exercise your administrative and constitutional powers to treat the issues raised in this petition in order to halt the disgraceful display of abuse of power,” HURIWA stated.