A United Kingdom -based Nigerian, Mr. Yinusa Owolabi, has accused
the Nigeria Police, specifically, the International Police (INTERPOL), Force
Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, and its Headquarters
in Abuja of demanding and collecting N192, 000 bribe from him before his
international passport and UK Residence Permit could be released. But even
after parting with the money, INTERPOL still refused to return his
international passport and UK Residence Permit.
The department kept asking him to come today and tomorrow. Owolabi
has become a regular face at airport.
He was always booking flights to Abuja, hopeful of collecting his
passport. His hope is yet to be realized. Every time the department tells him
to come over to collect his passport, he would book flight to UK, thinking he
would receive his passport, but always, he would be dribbled. When the
Commissioner of Police, in charge of INTERPOL, Mr. Olushola Subair, was alerted
of the case by New Telegraph, he said he was aware of it.
Subair said that his department wanted to ensure that the case was
reported in the UK. According to Owolabi, when he went to INTERPOL on Tuesday
with evidences to show that the case was reported in UK and already being
investigated, the CP, right in the presence of Olowodola, the complainant,
allegedly asked him to go and bring his UK tax payment receipts before his
international passport and UK Residence Permit would be released to him.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Don Awunah, was also
contacted over the case but he didn’t get back to the correspondent.
Tired of being dribbled at INTERPOL office, Abuja, over collection
of his documents, Owolabi went to Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA), a
non-governmental organisation. HURMA accused the police of extortion and
harassment.
In a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim
Idris, and signed by one of its legal officers, Mr. Lekan Alabi, HURMA alleged
the police of framing Owolabi in a matter that had already been reported at the
Birmingham Police Station, UK, and with reference number, 205W158583E16.
Giving background into the matter, HURMA explained that a
Nigerian-based businessman, Mr. Olowodola, visited Birmingham in August, 2016,
to purchase generators valued at £42,000 from Eagle Generators Limited, a firm
owned by a man identified simply as Nasir. Olowodola consulted Owolabi’s
company, Oshramon Ventures Limited, to provide a 40ft container to cargo the
generators.
The petition states: “On August 15, Owolabi accepted to cargo the
generator at an agreed price and sent an empty 40ft container to the premises
of Eagle Generator Limited in Birmingham for onward delivery to the seaport.
But the Eagle Generator Limited failed to load the generator into
the container between the hours of 11:30am and 1:30pm as agreed by the parties.
This necessitated the driver of the truck to leave the empty
container behind, so that it could be loaded at the seller’s convenient time.
The truck would return the following morning to carry it to the port.
“However, when the driver returned to the Eagle Generators Limited
the following day, he discovered the container was missing. He informed his
boss, Owolabi. While Nasir reported the matter at Birmingham Police Station,
Owolabi did same at Stratford Police Station, close to his office in UK.
He also took Olowodola to the Stratford Police Station, to report,
but the officer in charge of the matter said that same had earlier been
reported in Birmingham.” While the UK Police was still on with its
investigation, Owolabi visited Nigeria to attend his father’s burial in
September.
He called on Olowodola to discuss the state of the matter as a
concerned businessman. But on arriving at Olowodola’s office at Tejuosho, Yaba,
Lagos, on September 27, men from INTERPOL, Alagbon Annex, arrested and detained
Owolabi for three days on the phantom allegation of stealing.
While in the police custody, Owolabi was told to pay the sum of
£42,000, the value of the generators; his international passport and UK Residence
Permit were seized from him. Having refused to pay the £42,000, INTERPOL
allegedly extorted the sum of N192, 000 from him before he was released on bail
on September 30.
HURMA stated that even after extorting Owolabi, his passport and
Residence permit were still not released to him.
The petition states: “On October 5, when Owolabi went back to
Alagbon to demand for his documents, he was again placed on arrest on the
strength of another petition written by the same Olowodola.
He was moved to Abuja Office of INTERPOL. In Abuja, he was also
released on bail, having produced a reliable surety but has since been refused
his documents.”
HURMA, by the petition has sought to know the rationale behind
INTERPOL’s refusal to release Owolabi’s documents, and why INTERPOL has not
sent the case to the appropriate jurisdiction where the crime was committed.
HURMA describes the seizure of Owolabi’s documents as an abuse of
power and a blatant violation of the relevant provisions of the Constitution.
It demanded that Owolabi be allowed to return to UK, where he has left his
family and business for weeks.
New Telegraph
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