Illegal Detention: Chinese Business Man Drags AIG Zone 2 Four others to Court

     In a bid to safeguard his fundamental human right,A Chinese Citizen business man,Ting Shi,whose liberty was alleged to have  been curtailed by the Nigeria Police zone two,has dragged,the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone two Onikan, Lagos before a Federal high court sitting in Lagos south west Nigeria.

       Others joined as co-defendants,in the ensuing legal battle are,a Lagos business man Aliyu Mohammed, Akeem Adeyemi (IPO) monitoring Unit Zone 2,Nussy Adams Uba O/C monitoring Unit Zone 2, a Limited liability company, Lloyd’s Industries Limited.

        The directive by the Deputy Inspector General of Police that the case file should be transferred to Force Headquarters Abuja for proper investigation was alleged to have been flouted by the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 2 thereby denying the Chinese man fair hearing.

     In an affidavit in support of motion on notice for the enforcement of his fundamental right sworn to by Mr Ting Shi, he alleged  thus:

    He is the Managing Director and the alter ego of Timto-Alu Company, a Company incorporated in Nigeria with its factory located at Ijagba Village, along Shagamu/Ikorodu Express Way, Shagamu,Ogun State, Nigeria which deals in Dross and scrap Discovery Recycling.

     Since the Company commenced operation in December 2021, the 1st Respondent, Mr. Aliyu Mohammed who deals in Aluminum scraps has been one of his supplier of local INGOTS, the raw material for Aluminum Dross and Scrap to  his company. 

  The business relationship has no doubt created mutual,trust confidence and allayed any suspicion of fraud, misrepresentation or criminal intention on thier part towards him  prior to this issue at hand.

     However,Sometime in March, 2022, about eight (8) months after incorporation and four (4) months of full business operation in Nigeria, Mr Aliyu Mohammed  Informed him that he has participated in the auctioning of INGOTS by the Nigeria Custom Service and bought about 64.834kg at the Auction and proposed to supply same to his company at the prevailing local market price for the product.

     In the usual and ordinary course of thier  legitimate business relationship, he accepted Mr Mohammed’s offer to supply the INGOTS to his company at the current prevailing market price at that particular time.

   Mr Mohammed supplied the first batch of 15.469kg of INGOTS to his company on 31st of March, 2022; while the second and third batches totaling 49.365kg were supplied on 15th and 16th May, 2022 respectively, making it a total supply of 64.834kg at the cost of N72, 090,850.00 (Seventy Two Million, Ninety Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Naira) only which was the prevailing local market price of the product at that time, all receipted.

    However, he was surprised when, on Thursday the 8th day of September 2022, at about 9:00am a team of armed policemen who claimed to have been deployed from Zone 2 Police Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos Stormed his company’s factory in a commando manner at Ijaba Village, along shagamu/Ikorodu Express Way, Shagamu, Ogun State alleging that he had bought stolen goods purportedly supplied by Aliyu Mohammed.

    He was harassed, inhumanly rough-handled, bundled into a waiting car and taken to the Police Zonal Command Headquarters where he was detained by Mr Akeem Adeyemi(IPO) Monitoring Unit,Zone 2 and Mr Nussy Adams Uba (O/C) Monitoring Unit Zone 2 between 9.00am on Thursday,8th September, 2022 and 10.00pm on Monday, 12th September, 2022 without any prior invitation nor investigation and not allowing him to neither explain himself, nor have access to his Lawyer and he was never shown any petition against him by the Respondents or any other person.

     Subsequently, on Monday 12th day of September at about 9:00am while still in detention he was forced by the 2nd-4th Respondents who are referring to him as the ” big Fish” to transfer the sum of N30,000,000.00 (Thirty Million Naira) to the account of the Lloyd’s Industries Limited., a company with whom he has no dealings whatsoever as the purported owner of the alleged stolen goods as a condition for his bail. 

     He was also subjected to another rounds of tortuous duress and was escorted to the banking hall of Zenith bank, to forcefully transferred N30,000,000.00 to Lloyd’s Industries Limited, and also to the court premises in a deceitful manner and compelled him whilst still in detention without investigation, to sign a

fabricated AFFIDAVIT OF UNDERTAKING dated 12th September,2022 by Akeem Adeyemi and two other Police officers in the motoring Unit at Zone 2 Command,wherein they made him sign affidavit in court,deliberately over-estimated the quantity and value of good to as high as the sum of N130 Million and mandated him to pay the said amount to Lloyd’s industries with effect from the date of the said involuntary forced undertaking.

    Mr Aliyu Mohammed who supplied him the Ingots at the prevailing market price  was only  invited by the  2nd to 4th Respondents and allow to walk away without recourse to his complicity howsoever in the matter while he was held back,call “the big fish”,intimidated, detained,extorted and subjected to all manner of torture thereby taking undue advantage of him being a foreigner.

      Aliyu Mohammed had also subsequently supplied several tons of Ingots to his company as usual between the time of the supply of the alleged stolen Ingots and the time of his needless arrest; 

   His insistence on the questionable role of Aliyu Mohammed which appeared to be a setup to extort money from him had led to several threats to his life, with fierce looking men, severally invading the premises of his factory and threatening to deal with him in the Nigerian way if he fail to corporate with the police to pay up the N130, 000,000.00 (One Hundred and Thirty Million Naira) mentioned above, as soon as possible. The said threat has continued to the extent that he can no longer go to his factory to do his job for fear of losing his life.

     Based on this, he wrote a petition dated 26th September, 2022 through his lawyer to the Deputy Inspector General of Police against Aliyu Mohammed  but the 2nd – 4th Respondents sat on the petition and refused the case to be transferred to Force Headquarters Abuja as demanded by the Deputy Inspector General of Police for proper investigation but the Assistant Inspector General of Police in Zone 2 deliberately refused to transfer the matter thereby denied him fair hearing.

    He has suffered great pains, physical trauma, deprivation, mental and psychological torture as well as huge economic losses throughout the period he was arrested, detained and the incessant threats to his life and to further rearrest and detain him.

     He never had any knowledge or had any course to suspect that the ingots  Aliyu Mohammed supplied to his company was stolen as he had always supplied ingots since the inception of the company and same was also purchased at the prevailing market price and he also do not believe the ingots

supplied to the company through him is the same stolen ingots because the said ingots supplied to the company through  him did not have any company

identification mark.

    It took about seven months after he had processed and exported the Ingots sold to the company through him by Aliyu Mohammed before the complaint of the alleged stolen INGOTS, harassed, intimidated, arrest, detained, extort money and further threat of arrest with intention of extorting more money from him

       Consequently, Mr.Ting Shi is seeking the following relief from the court 

 A Declaration that the forceful, illegal, unlawful and uncivilized arrest without warrant, detention between 9.00am on Thursday, 8th September, 2022 and 10.00pm on Monday, 12th September, 2022 , humiliation, torture, brutalization and further threats to curtail his movement by the officers, operatives and men under the command and directives of the 2nd -4th Respondents at the instance of the Aliyu Mohammed and Lloyd’s Industries Limited and  is a gross, violent, barbaric, brute, flagrant and unmitigated violation of his rights to dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing and freedom of movement guarantee and safeguarded under Section 34, 35, 36, 41 and 46 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and under Article 3,4, 5, 6, 7 and 12 of the African Charter of Human and people’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act CAP A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 amounts to gross violation of his rights to personal liberty, Fair Hearing and Freedom of Movement. 

A Declaration that the continued and unabated harassment, intimidation and threat of further arrest and illegal detention of the Applicant, by the men and officers under the 2nd – 4th Respondents, on an entirely commercial transaction between him and the  Aliyu Mohammed amounts to a gross violation of the his right to personal liberty, Fair Hearing and freedom of movement as guarantee under Section 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and under Article 3,4, 5, 6, 7 and 12 of the African Charter of Human and Human Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act CAP A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

An order of perpetual injunction from this honourable Court restraining the Respondents particularly the 2nd-5thRespondents, their agents, privies, surrogates, associates, superior and/or inferiors, anybody acting for on or their behalf howsoever in their authority from further arresting or further, harassing, embarrassing, intimidating, invading or continued in the infringement of the guaranteed of his  right.

An order directing the 5th Respondent Lloyds Industries Nigeria Ltd to transfer the sum of 30,000,000 (Thirty Million Naira only) forcefully transferred to her Account by him at the instance of the 2nd-4th Respondents back to his  Bank account forthwith.

An order awarding in his favour  as damages the sum of N10, 000,000. (Ten million naira) only, being exemplary damages against the Respondents jointly and severally for his unlawful arrest, detention and humiliation.

The defendants have not file any defence to the suit.