Ex-Gov Ohakim Asks Court To Initiate Contempt Proceedings Against Police For Failure To Arrest Ex-girlfriend

Former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, has filed a petition asking a high court in Abuja to initiate contempt proceedings against the Nigeria Police for failure to comply with an order to arrest his ex-lady friend, Chinyere Lillian Amuchinwa-Igwegbe.

This was contained in a petition, dated January 12, 2021, which was addressed to the inspector general of police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, and submitted to the registrar, Court 3, District Court, Jiwa, Abuja.

THE WHISTLER reports that an Abuja Magistrates’ Court had last December issued a warrant of arrest against Lady Amuchinwa-Igwegbe in connection with allegations made against her by former governor Ikedi Ohakim. The magistrate, ED Ebiwari, had ordered the inspector-general of police to arrest and produce Amuchinwa before the court for the purpose of arraignment to answer allegations made against her by the former governor.

The arrest warrant was made following a direct criminal complaint brought against the defendant by Ohakim.

The order for the arrest of the defendant, dated December 23, 2020, and made by Magistrate Ebiwari of Magistrates’ Court 14, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, read: “After hearing from Eric Ibe, the complainant’s counsel, seeking for the following reliefs: ‘An order of the court directing the inspector general of police, Louis Edet House, Force Headquarters, Abuja, to arrest and produce the defendant in court to secure her attendance in court for the purpose of the arraignment, this court hereby orders as follows: ‘The inspector-general of police is hereby ordered by virtue of section 113 and 114 of ACJA, 2015, to arrest and produce the defendant, Ms Chinyere Lillian Amuchinwa, to court for the purpose of arraignment to answer the allegations made against her by the complaint, via Direct Criminal Complaint.”

The direct criminal complaint marked CR/95/2020 is between Chief Dr Ikedi Ohakim vs Ms Chinyere Lillian Amuchinwa. In the charge that followed the police investigation, marked CR/95/2020, lady Amuchinwa is accused of criminal defamation of character, criminal extortion and threat to life.

The complaint was filed before the registrar, Chief District Court, Jiwa, by the counsel to Ohakim, Eric Ibe. It reads in part: “It is our brief that our client and the suspect became close friends in the late 2018, but the relationship later broke down on account of our client’s loss of interest in the relationship. Our client informed us that the suspect did not take kindly to his termination of the relationship and as a consequence, the suspect resorted to myriad criminal conducts towards our client.

“The former governor prayed the court for a warrant of arrest to be issued against Lady Amuchinwa for alleged offences of criminal defamation, assault, extortion and threat to life. The particulars of the alleged criminal conducts against her are: several phone calls and text messages by which the suspect threatened the life of our client. The suspect also suborned several unknown persons who texted/called our client on the phone and threatened his life.

“The suspect made several telephone calls to a host of people by which she vowed to do everything within her powers to destroy our client’s reputation and marriage, and will not relent until the complainant pays her the sum of N610m. The suspect made phone calls to notable individuals known to our client and with whom our client does business, calling him a fraudster, whereupon those individuals contacted our client and inquired of him of when and how he had become a fraudster, thereby ruining potential business leads he was pursuing with those individuals. The suspect has also made defamatory publications against our client, in print and social media.

“The suspect made good her threats to the life of our client and otherwise defamed him in the presence of many people on two different dates (May 29, 2019, and January 18, 2020) when she trailed him to Abuja from Imo State, and physically threatened assault against him.”

As a result of the non-arrest of the accused since the court order, Ohakim’s counsel in a petition, entitled ‘Notice of Consequences of Disobedience To Order of Court’, addressed to the IGP, and submitted to the registrar, Court 3, District Court, Jiwa, Abuja, states that, “Take note that unless you obey the directives contained in this order, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to by committed to prison.”