It is no doubt that Nigerian police are deeply and fantastically corrupt and they have engaged in atrocities that could constituted crimes against humanity – ranging from petty corruption and bribe-taking to grand atrocities like framing up innocent people for most serious crimes and even extra-judicial executions. What is little known is the fact that Nigerian lawyers are often involved in the chain of events that lead to these horrendous crimes by men on uniform. These despicable lawyers conspire with the police and fabricate false petitions that form the basis for police atrocities and corruption.
A good example of this is playing out presently in the recent invitation the DCP Adegoke-led State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) has extended to Barrister Emeka Ugwuonye. Over a purely family law dispute between one Mr. Adolphus Ezekaigbo and his wife, Chioma Ezekaigbo, the SCID appears to have taken over a case that is pending in a family court, before the Honourable Justice Christopher Balogun, thanks to Barrister Vincent Osakwe, lawyer for Mr. Ezekaigbo.
According to court documents seen by the News Band, Ezekaigbo allegedly unleashed domestic violence against his wife over the years. He ultimately drove her out of their matrimonial home two years ago. He released their daughter, but held their four sons. In 2021, Mr. Ezekaigbo filed a divorce petition against his wife. According to the documents, Mr. Ezekaigbo continued to deny his wife all access to the four children he held back. At the same time, Mr. Ezekaigbo was feeding the children horrible stories accusing his wife of being a prostitute. Believing that such stories indicated that Mr. Ezekaigbo was raising doubts about the paternity of the children, which posed potential disastrous consequences for the children’s development, Mrs. Ezekaigbo took two of the boys (11 and 7) to her house. In doing this, she did not violate any court order because the court never granted custody to any of the parents.
Before taking this measure, Mrs. Ezekaigbo had joined the Due Process Advocates Foundation (DPA), which assigned lawyers to help her in the case in court. Upon taking her children to her house, she notified DPA of her action. In an effort to help the family and avoid any confusion, Emeka Ugwuonye, the Founder and CEO of DPA, contacted Mr. Osakwe to inform him that the children of his client were with their mother. Ugwuonye sent a letter dated August 22, 2022 to inform Mr. Osakwe of this development. Upon becoming aware of the letter, Ezekaigbo contacted Ugwuonye in anger. While on phone with Ugwuonye, Ezekaigbo repeatedly referred to his wife as a prostitute.
Based on the extreme behavior of Ezekaigbo by calling his wife a prostitute, DPA came to the conclusion that he had impliedly questioned the paternity of his children. After discussing this with Mrs. Ezekaigbo, Ugwuonye sent his second letter dated August 23, 2022 to Mr. Osakwe informing him that Mrs. Ezekaigbo would likely request a DNA paternity test. (Attached below is a screenshot of Mr. Osakwe’s reaction to Ugwuonye after receiving the letter).
Apparently, Mr. Osakwe, for whatever reason, wrote a petition to the police alleging that Ugwuonye kidnapped and abducted the children in question. Even though from every obvious indication, the allegations made by Osakwe were baseless, the police invited Ugwuonye, supposedly to investigate him for the crime of kidnapping and abduction. Surprisingly, on getting to the police station known as Panti in Yaba, Lagos, the police confronted Ugwuonye with some much discredited publications by Sahara Reporters blog alleging that Emeka Ugwuonye was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Eighty per cent of the five hours Ugwuonye spent at the police station was spent on the police effort to get him to disprove the story of Sahara Reporters. For the record, Mr. Ugwuonye was not disbarred by the Supreme Court. On the contrary, his case is pending before the apex court of Nigeria and has not been determined either way.