Businessman Petitions IG, Threatens N2bn Suit against Police over Defamatory Publication

Sunday Okobi

A Lagos-based businessman, Mr. Chinedu Ernest Nwaka, through his lawyers, Dorminus Attorneys, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IG), Kayode Egbetokun, against the Police Public Relations Officer, Force CID Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, ASP Mayegun Aminat, threatening a N2 billion against her for declaring him a fraudster on X formerly known as Twitter.

He alleged that ASP Mayegun on November 27, 2024, defamed and maligned his character through her official X handle, where she made a post, captioned: ‘Arrest of serial fraudster, Chinedu Ernest Ngwaka for fraud involving N320,000,000,’ thereby portraying him as a criminal and fraudster even when he has not been convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Lagos over the weekend,  Ngwaka’s lawyer, Chris Ejima Johnson, said the police arrogated to themselves the position of a court of law when they convicted his clients on social media.

He noted that the controversial publication was replete with unfounded claims and defamatory imputations deliberately intended to defame his client and lower his estimation before the right-thinking members of the public.

The businessmen stressed that the petition to the IG demanded that the post be taken down with apologies to his client to be published in two national dailies and N2 billion as damages for the injuries caused by the defamatory post to his client’s reputation.

He also said the police had been 48 hours to comply with the demand or his client would be left with no option but to seek redress in court for commensurate remedies.

Johnson said his client was also a victim of a business that went wrong, a development he said the police were aware of and lamented that instead of carrying out their investigation professionally to get the culprit for prosecution, they turned themselves into a court of law with the power to convict.

According to him, “To set the records straight, our clients have never been convicted fraud or any criminal activity by any court. Our client is also a victim of the fraud which the police know or ought to have known if they had sincerely and professionally carried out their investigations. The police have abdicated their statutory role to investigate crimes but transmogrified into social media contents creators wherein they subject our client to media trial and convicted him by themselves.

“They have no power in law to turn themselves into a court where they conclusively declare anyone a fraudster and a criminal even when the person has not been arraigned, prosecuted or convicted.

“If the police had carried out an investigation as they are expected to, they ought to have known that our client had earlier lodged a petition at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Inspector General of Police at Abuja, as well as the Force CID Alagbon against Mrs. Titilayo Mary Eboh, who allegedly collected large sums of from various individuals and business owners, including our clients with a promise to provide foreign currency in exchange for their naira deposits.

“In a petition to the EFCC and the Nigeria Police dated September 5 and 6, 2024, respectively, our client presented a complaint and requested for an investigation to be carried out in respect of the subject which has now led to him being called a fraudster.

“It is important to note that the complainants in the petition against our client, leading to the defamatory post, are people who have been doing forex business with our clients over a period of time without hitches. It is also instructive to note that the failure of Mrs. Eboh to deliver on her promise has caused our client about $5,000,000 of his personal money. The evidence of transfers and history of the transactions were all made available to the police to aid their investigation.

 “It is, therefore, very shocking that rather than carry out detailed investigation on the issue, the police resorted to media trial where they unprofessionally branded our client a fraudster even when they admitted that investigation is yet to be concluded.

 “There is no basis for the defamatory post to have been made in the first place. This is especially so when our client is also a victim, who has lost a huge amount of money from the transaction and presented petition to the police for investigation. We must state that the police have all the documents to trace the transactions and confirm his innocence if they are actually concerned about the justice of the case.

 “The pronouncement by the police on the guilt of our client through the said publication without a trial and conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction is a serious aberration and a clear violation of the presumption of innocence guaranteed and protected under our constitution.”

He added: “We urge the members of the public to discountenance the defamatory post by ASP Aminat as she is neither a court of law nor a judge to pronounce our client a fraudster. Our client is a businessman with long standing history of integrity, honesty and diligence.

 “He is equally a victim who has submitted the issue to the law enforcement agencies for proper investigation as is expected of any law-abiding citizen of this country. His hands are clean and that is why he has taken the bold steps to let the law enforcement look into his complaints and also supplied them with all the documents and information they need to aid proper investigation.

 “However, we wish to reiterate that our client shall seek redress in court against the police for the unprofessional resort to defamation and blackmail rather than performing their statutory functions, if they fail to carry out our client’s his demands within the stipulated time frame,” he stated.

Also speaking, Ngwaka lamented that he had been arrested twice over the same case. “I have spent N6 million for bail, N3 million on each of the two occasions respectively. They also seized my Toyota Hillux Jeep and froze my bank accounts and that of my wife for over two months now,” he said.

He called on the IGP, President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to ask the police authorities to release his vehicle and unfreeze his bank accounts and that of his wife, as the situation has subjected him and his family to harrowing financial hardship.

He stated that the police knew the account where the money they were looking for was lodged as he had provided them with all the necessary documents to that effect, but rather than trace the money to the account and get the person involved, they have resorted to tarnishing his image by calling him a fraudster when nothing was found in his account and when he has not been charged to court, let alone being convicted.