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Ohakim: Alleged blackmailer in trouble as former Governor’s Legal Counsel petition IGP

Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, the Counsel to the former Govenror of Imo State, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police over the continuing false maligning of the former Governor’s character, as well as unlawful and malicious prosecution and harassment of Ohakim by some officers of Nigeria Police in Abuja at the behest of one Ms. Chinyere Amuchienwa-Igwegbe.

The Petition dated January 8, 2021, reads as follows:

The Inspector-General of Police
Nigeria Police Force
Force Headquarters
Louis Edet House
Abuja
 
RE: UNLAWFUL AND MALICIOUS PROSECUTION, HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION, DEFAMATION AND FALSE INFORMATION AGAINST DR IKEDI OHAKIM AT THE BEHEST OF MS CHINYERE AMUCHIENWA-IGWEGBE
 
We are Solicitors to His Excellency, Dr Ikedi Ohakim, a former Governor of Imo State (hereinafter referred to as “our client”). We write on his Instructions as follows:
 
1, By a Petition from our client to your office dated 20th January 2020, our client complained about assault on his person by Ms. Chinyere Amuchienwa-Igwegbe (hereafter: “Ms Igwegbe or Amuchienwa”) at a hotel in Abuja and other unlawful acts by her towards our client. The contents of the said Petition were clear, precise and unambiguous and our client had then, at the request of the Police, subsequently submitted credible evidence to support said Petition. For your ease of reference, we have attached to this Petition some of the supporting evidence (comprising of text message exchanges between our client and Ms Amuchienwa-Igwegbe). A critical perusal of the attachments will point your office to where, between our client and Ms Igwegbe, the truth in fact lies. See Attachment 1 (Copy of the originating Petition and said text messages).
 
2, The complaint of our client was still under investigation by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Federal Investigation Bureau (FIB), in connection with which our client and Ms. Amuchienwa were interviewed several times at the office of DIG – FIB when on 7th September, 2020, the Special Tactical Squad of the same FIB extended a new invitation to our client over a fresh Petition brought by Ms Igwegbe on the same matter. And this was just days after our client was invited by the National Agency for Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) over the similar Petition by Ms Amuchienwa against our Client, and which Petition she concealed from the Police. See Attachment 2.

3, in the interim, compelled by our concerns that this whole matter was now bordering on persecution, we commenced judicial proceedings to protect our client’s constitutional rights, pursuant to which the Court – on 10th September, 2020 – issued a restraining Order, stating “That all parties in this Suit are hereby Ordered to maintain the status quo and should not do anything in connection with the subject matter and should stay all action whatsoever pending the determination of the substantive Motion in this Suit”. This is addition to a similar and contemporaneous Order against NAPTIP and a re-affirmation of the two Orders on 25th September, 2020. Copies of the 3 Orders are herewith attached as Attachment 3.

4, All these Orders and other processes were duly served on the concerned Police officers, including particularly the former CP Legal (Mr Osayemo). Yet, beginning from 21st September to the present, the Police – ostensibly on the improper promptings of Ms Amuchienwa – has filed two separate Charges against our client in two separate Courts, containing myriad allegations that are so wild that it seems a stretch to relate them to anything our client might have done. In addition to these anomalies, we have been informed that a third round of Charges is underway. See copies of the different Charges, marked as Attachment 4.

5, It is noteworthy that the first round of Charges was grounded on the assault incident at the Abuja Hotel, in which our client was the complainant. How the whole story later changed to the point that our client has been charged for false information does not comport with reason and what Police initially discovered on the scene. In addition, how was the conclusion reached, in the same vein, that our client was defrauding Nigerians (including the Ms Igwegbe), using the name of Babatunde Fashola, the Honorable Minister for Works? It is clear from the land documents (which the Police has) that the land in question does not belong to our client, so how come the Police believed Ms Igwegbe that she paid paid Five Hundred Million Naira to our client for a land that is not in the name of our client? And how did Ms Igwegbe effect said payments – by check, cash or transfer? And how could she make such huge payments without our client executing any instrument of transfer of title, such as a Deed of Assignment or even a simple receipt? These are questions the former CP Legal (Osayemo) should have resolved before charging our client for defrauding Ms Igwegbe of Five Hundred Million Naira, which Charges they libelously published in both mainstream and social media. See screen shots of some of the publications, marked as Attachment 5.
 
6, The second set of Charges relates to Ms Igwegbe’s claims that our client made (photoshopped or filmed – according to her, she was not sure) and published her nude video in viral social media. Ms Igwegbe, either by herself or through Counsel, has variously made said video available to the police and other agencies she petitioned on the same allegations (particularly NAPTIP), all in a desperate attempt to frame our client. At the same time, she proceeded to make an audio recording of her voice, accusing our client of having made the nude video at issue. Sir, we make bold to say that it does not comport with prosecutorial best practices for our client to be charged for either making, photoshopping or publishing such nude video without forensic evidence directly implicating our client. For this reason, we hereby call for forensic investigation of who actually made the video, whether it is real or photoshopped and from whose phone or other device it was first published or sent out. Attached is a DVD copy of the said video (even though the police had previously seen it from other sources) for ease of your investigation (Attachment 6). We have also attached the audio Ms Igwegbe distributed to the media accusing our client (without evidence) of making nude videos, which accusation makes her liable to be prosecuted for false information to the police and criminal defamation of our client (Attachment 7). We retained the services of a certified Expert (Mr Rowland Azuike) to transcribe the contents of said audio and video. Attachment 8 is his Sworn Statement, deposed to before the High Court of Imo State. The pertinent parts of said Sworn Statement is reproduced below, as follows:

(a) “Hello family, Nsogbu dikwa na Ndizuogu. Nnukwu nsogbu di. Iheanacho Mbadiwe je kwuru Raphael Obioha na aga koro ha ihe neme here. Kokoro ha ihe ojo nya na OHAKIM me ihe ha neme. Nwe gwaha oso OHAKIM, ne onwere onye ana akpo Chinedu Okpareke. Ihe ona ese wu ike mmadu. Ike mmadu ka ona ese and o OHAKIM duirie. So ha jekwu Raphael Obioha ka okoroha ka ha si we zu egom. Iheanacho si ha na nka wu the whole Ndizuogu no wuhu oru ofu onye. Kedu ihe ominuru? What is going on?
 
“Asi na nsogbu di na Ndizuogu. Iheanacho Mbadiwe si over his dead body na Raphael mara ya summon kwa IKEDI OHAKIM ko koroha ihe ge me oye eji weputa such a picture lets say no photo, ya si godu no real. Nsiya no Chinedu Okpareke. Chinedu Okpareke wu onye ne se photo ike mmadu.
 
“Ndi DSS enye gom details. Okwa ya ga abiara now, asi na ogu du. Ni Iheanacho di so upset na Ndizuogu ni ne, ni iha agaha dindu, e and na OHAKIM ga akwu ugwom. Owu kwa ho story. O kwa ihuru ugwom, na oga akwu and na o ga abia National television. Condition ha ge nyee. Eh. Ka okoroha etu esi se ikem na iha. O kwa ka ngwa unu ihe neme na Ndizogu now.”
 
(b). The summary of above transcribed statement in Igbo uttered by Ms Igwegbe against me, when translated to English is as follows:

“Iheanacho Mbadiwe went to Raphael Obioha demanding an explanation of what he and OHAKIM did to me. That OHAKIM and a certain person named Chinedu Okpareke photographs human bottom on the instructions of OHAKIM. That Raphael Obioha will explain how they got together to steal my money.

“There is commotion in Ndizuogu. Iheanacho Mbadiwe said it’s over his dead body as he insists that Raphael must summon IKEDI OHAKIM to explain why he circulated such picture, even if it’s not photoshopped but real.

“The DSS has given me the details. Now, there is fracas. Iheanacho and Ndizuogu as a whole are so upset, that upon their lives, OHAKIM must pay his debt. See that my debt? He must pay and he must appear on National television and he will be given condition. He must explain how my bottom was photographed”.

8, Sir, in view of the foregoing, it is our considered position that these multiple rounds of Charges – totally lacking in any scintilla of evidence – against our client and the way and manner of his prosecution in various courts at the behest of the same nominal Complainant (Ms Igwegbe) is reprehensible, unethical, unprofessional and condemnable, and ought not be allowed to stand. We therefore respectfully make the following Prayers:
 
(a). In the circumstance, we urge and pray you to use your good offices to disavow these reprehensible conducts by discontinuing these prosecutions and bringing all the parties back to the status quo ante. In other words, we request your firm directives that these criminal charges be withdrawn forthwith and the complaints of our client properly and thoroughly investigated. If at the conclusion of your investigation, you found our client’s Petition to lack sufficient merit to ground prosecution of Ms Igwegbe, then you have the discretion to discountenance it instead of turning around to prosecute our client for “false information” as your officers are now doing. We contend that such is not a normal prosecutorial practice by the police, otherwise there will be millions of Nigerians being prosecuted for false information to the police merely because they dared to initiate a Petition. Most importantly, it’s gross injustice on the part of the former CP Legal (Osayemo) to file Charges against our Client in flagrant disobedience of a Court Order against such.

(b). That Ms Igwegbe (the nominal Complainant) be required to produce self-authenticating evidence of having paid our client Five Hundred Million Naira for a land that she clearly saw from the documents that does not belong to our client. For avoidance of doubt, our client had a franchise to sell said land and he gave Ms Igwegbe the title documents on trust when she claimed she could get a buyer in return for partaking in the agency commission. It is a normal thing done customarily in Nigeria when it comes to selling any landed property.

(c). That Ms Igwegbe must produce credible evidence of how our client used said land (that is not in his name) to defraud her and other Nigerians and using the name of Babatunde Fashola, the Honorable Minister for Works. Mere allegations are utterly insufficient to ground the ongoing prosecution against me.

(d). That Ms Igwegbe must produce evidence of all the receipts and the name of the person who took delivery of the items she claimed our client purchased from her in the amount of One Hundred and Ten Million Naira; and why she is variously stating the amount in Euros and Naira.

(e). That the nude video upon which our client is now being charged be subjected to a thorough forensic investigation to determine, between our client and Igwegbe, who made the video; whether the video is real or photoshopped, who first sent the video out from the device with which it was made and the person(s) to whom the video was sent and when?

(f). That Ms Igwegbe be required to produce credible scientific or forensic evidence that our client is in the unholy business of making indecent videos of women in cahoots with others, as alleged and published by Ms Igwegbe in the said audio hereby attached and on her various statements to the police and NAPTIP.

(g). That given that both Ms Igwegbe’s initial Petition was about monies she claims our client owes her (for land purchased and chattels bought from her shop), these prosecutions should be closed forthwith because the Nigerian Police is neither a debt collection agency, nor should Ms Igwegbe be allowed to twist what she initially presented as a mere civil monetary dispute, only to later turn to making unsubstantiated criminal allegations in a clumsy design to embroil the Police in what is fundamentally a civil matter.

(h). That Ms Igwegbe be required to produce evidence from the DSS (Directorate of State Security) of the proof that it was our client that made (filmed or photoshopped) and distributed the said indecent video, as she alleged was given to her by DSS.

(i). That Ms Igwegbe be charged for all the criminal offenses disclosed in her misconducts since the inception of this whole saga and from the contents of this Petition.

9, Finally, while we await your prompt and professional attention to this Petition, please be assured of our abiding confidence in your office.

Sincerely:
ADULBERT LEGAL SERVICES


Aloy Ejimakor, Esq.
Counsel of Record
0803 265 1660
aejimakor@gmail.com

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