A tricyclist named Jeremiah Sunday Udo was unlawfully arrested and had his tricycle impounded after it was purchased on hire purchase for N1.9 million. An Akwa Ibom State High Court ruled that Inspector Iniobong Umoren, a policewoman in the State Police Command, must pay Udo N5 million for this unlawful arrest.
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The order was issued on Thursday by the court, which is presided over by Justice Ntong Ntong. The case for the enforcement of fundamental rights was filed by Jeremiah Sunday Udo, a resident of the Ikono Local Government Area.
A further N5 million was ordered by Justice Ntong to be paid to the tricyclist by his friend Mr. Udoka David, the first respondent, for encouraging the police to arrest and hold him for five days without food or drink.
The Commissioner of Police of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command, Mr. Olatoye Durosinmi, was joined in the lawsuit as a third respondent. The Court, however, removed him from the action and instructed him to caution his officers and men to always do their jobs within the scope and bounds of the law.
A resident of Ifa Ikot Idang in Uyo, the tricyclist told the court that up until last year, when the Naira policy severely damaged the economy, he was paying the owner of the keke, Mr. Udoka David, from his neighbouring village in Ikono, N20,000 per week as per the terms of their hire purchase agreement. As a result, he owed the owner N20,000 for a week’s worth of returns.
He said that after paying eight hundred and eighty-five thousand Naira (N885,000) of the N1.9 million agreed upon in the hire purchase for the full recovery of the tricycle, he was taken aback when he was ambushed and taken into custody on February 12, 2023.
“Inspector Iniobong Umoren quickly impounded the tricycle and handed it over to the first respondent without an order of court which has the power to interpret the terms of hire purchase agreements between parties and enforce its terms and conditions,” asked Justice Ntong in an hour-long ruling.
In what the court described as “satanic, nefarious and unwholesome antics against the applicant,” he said, “The first respondent, Mr. Udoka David, took the law into his hands and lured the Policewoman, who also allowed herself to be led into jettisoning the rule of law using the name of Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police to authenticate her unlawful act.”
Justice Ntong declared, “The law is there to protect the tricyclist from heartless people like Inspector Iniobong Umoren and Mr. Udoka David. Because of greed, Inspector Iniobong Umoren usurped the role of the Court and became a law unto herself, having encroached on the fundamental rights of the keke man.”
After reading all of the paperwork submitted by the parties, the judge declared, “It is evident that the evidence and documents, such as the bail bond, the petition, and the statements presented by the first and second respondents, are falsified and doctored to deceive the Court.”
In light of this, the Court issued an order directing “Inspector Iniobong Umoren and Mr. Udoka David to release forthwith, the applicant’s tricycle pending when a Court of competent jurisdiction will order otherwise under the hire purchase agreement, in the name of God Almighty, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Inspector General of Police.”
