Christopher Oji
The convener of #EndSARS, Mr. Segun Awosanya, has appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammad Adamu to make public the findings of a panel set up to investigate the extortion of a UK based Nigerian, Mr Bankole Oni Ogunnowo, by some policemen.
Awosanya, a popular social media influencer, on his twitter handle, made reference to Ogunnowo’s protracted case, which is yet to have a closure.
The case, which involved UK and Nigerian police, had been investigated and rested by the UK government, but their Nigerian counterpart has continued to delay on the case.
Meanwhile, while the case lingers, different policemen, under the guise of investigation, continue to extort Ogunnowo.
It was earlier reported that some Nigerian policemen attached to Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos State, who allegedly collected money from Ogunnowo’s estranged wife, Eileen, labeled him a human trafficker.
Another set of policemen, attached to Interpol department, Abuja, came up with trump up charges against him and urged the Metropolitan Police to extradite him.
The call made the UK Police to launch an investigation, with the case even going to court. Ogunnowo was found not guilty.
However, according to the UK Police, Ogunnowo’s life was not safe, at least not until the Nigerian Police dropped the call for his extradition against him. If the extradition call is not dropped, Ogunnowo will not be able to come down to Nigeria to see his aged mother and other family members.
Ogunnowo, in a petition titled, ‘Breach of my fundamental rights by, SP Usman Mohammed, SP Fasimoye Bukola Rita, DSP John Oluwarotimi, Olarewaju Lawal, attached to Interpol and general investigation units, FCID, Abuja, and FCID, Alagobon,’ asked the IGP to investigate the policemen and that the trump up charges against him be dropped.
He later got to hear that the IGP had called for an investigation and the policemen indicted. He was further told that the panel’s report had been submitted to the IGP. The petition was submitted last year, but till date, the IGP had kept mum on Ogunnowo’s extradition.
Awosanya, who had become a force to be reckoned with in his activism against police violations of human rights, had tweeted: “The UK authorities believe that our fellow citizen Mr Bankole is not safe to even visit his own country based on the level of conspiracy weaponized against him by the Police even after discharging him abroad.
“We need closure having found that this is another work of impunity. There is no way a crime of this magnitude should be swept under any proverbial carpet. We need the report ASAP in the public domain and urgently must bring to book all those involved.”