Lawyer condemns raid on citizen Agbogu’s Zaria residence

Amaechina in a statement issued, weekend said: “On May 4, 2017, while he was away in Abuja with no member of his family at home, fully armed police officers from General Investigation Department, Alagbon Close, Lagos, stormed the residence of Mr. Ikechukwu Agbogu in GRA Zaria, broke into the house and conducted a search at the end of which they found nothing incriminating at all. “They destroyed or tore open a total of 32 suit cases and five Ghana Must Go bags containing legitimate personal items of our client which were stored in the premises. They also broke open the PVC ceiling of the house in the course of conducting the searches. “Thus several doors in the premises were destroyed by the Police officers in the course of conducting the searches and at the end, they left the entire premises open without any attempt to secure our client’s properties and left. “Our client considers this very strange and unlawful that search of his premises will be conducted in his absence and in the absence of all members of his family and in this manner. No attempt was made by the said police officers to contact our client either before or after the search and he and members of his family had no inkling of what had happened until neighbours contacted Mr. Agbogu on May 7, 2017. “Upon being informed, he caused his lawyers to visit the General Investigation Department of the Nigeria Police at Alagbon, Lagos, only to be informed that there was a petition that criminal activities were being carried out in the premises. “It was shocking for us to discover that the petition did not mention or refer to our client but to an entirely different person. It was also discovered in the course of the search that there was prior, recent attempt to burgle the premises from the back window of the premises, while our client was away, and this makes our client to suspect that the persons who wrote the said petition may have tried to dump incriminating items in his residence in order to incriminate him. “Based on the foregoing, on behalf of our client, we wrote a letter dated May 15, 2017, to the Inspector-General of Police protesting the unlawful action taken by the Police and demanding that the identity of the false petitioner be disclosed to us, among others. So far, there has not been any response to the letter.” “It is in the circumstance that we decide to bring this to the attention of the public. Our client has suffered serious damages as a result of the Police action, following this false information. It has been the case that under the now trending whistle blowing policy, persons who give false information are being prosecuted. We want that to be the case with respect to this matter. “Under the constitution, the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone and telegraphic communications are protected. Any breach of same under any guise is not only a violation of the citizen’s right but an affront on the constitution. ‘’We are of the sincere view that the persons who made this false complaint have the evil intention of framing up an innocent citizen, hence they must not be spared.”]]>