The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr. Solomon Arase, a retired Inspector General of Police, has instituted a civil lawsuit against the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and its staff over an investigative report published by the medium. According to a statement by the Head of Press and Public Relations of the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani on Friday, Arase’s attention was drawn to reports that the Nigeria Police Force had invited an ICIR staff member, Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola.
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The PSC statement clarified that the invitation was allegedly at the instance of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC). The statement said, “It is instructive to state that Dr. Arase had instructed his solicitors immediately his attention was drawn to the publication to act on his behalf.
“His solicitors, in a letter dated 23rd February 2024 to Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola, Victoria Bamas, and Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, the writer, editor, and Executive Director respectively, all of ICIR, and copies of the letters delivered to them and to the Chairman, Secretary, and Members of the Board of Trustees of the company.” The Explainer learnt that the bone of contention is an in-depth investigative report by ICIR’s Akewushola titled: “[EXCLUSIVE] Two former IGPs, senior Police officers accused of bribery in shady land sale of designated Police Barracks”
The PSC statement further explained that in the letters, Arase’s solicitors complained about the defamatory words written concerning the Chairman, who was Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police from 2015 to 2016.
“Accordingly, the solicitors demanded, inter alia, for immediate retraction of the said defamatory publication within a timeline, failure of which the Solicitors notified the recipients of those letters that Dr. Arase would seek redress in court,” the statement added.
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Ani stated that Dr. Arase has since instituted a civil action against Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola, Victoria Bamas, Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, and the Registered Trustees of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Suit No. CV/1937/2024, filed on April 5, 2024.
The statement emphasized, “While the Nigeria Police Force, like other security agencies, are entitled to carry out an investigation of any matter which in their opinion has criminal elements, it is pertinent to state emphatically that by the pedigree of the former Inspector General of Police as a Legal Practitioner, Doctor of Philosophy in Law, and currently presiding over the Police Service Commission, he is law-abiding, and has since instituted a civil action to challenge the heinous defamatory words published and concerning him in order to redeem his esteemed reputation by seeking appropriate reliefs.” The PSC Chairman, according to the statement, “will therefore refrain from publicly discussing this matter in the media or in any other way unlawfully entangling it with police powers.”
The Explainer recalls that in the last few months, investigative journalists have been targets of harassment and illegal detention by the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC). In May, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Daniel Ojukwu was picked up and held for 10 days without charge. Ojukwu became a target of the police after he reported about suspicious payments by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals. He was only released after protests were organized by media rights watchdog groups and civil society activists at the Police Headquarters.
