Police ignore court order, storm businessman Joseph Edeh’s residence in case of marital dispute
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The police on Sunday reportedly stormed the Lagos residence of businessman Joseph Edeh to allegedly whisk him away in a case bordering on a marital dispute with his estranged wife, Mrs. Gloria Edeh.
Mrs. Edeh had, in a now-abandoned suit, asked a Lagos court to compel her husband to sell his company and share the proceeds with her. Other related cases have since sprung up and are currently in at least four different courts.
But in a surprising twist, police officers at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja stormed the Lagos residence of Joseph Edeh, according to a civil society organisation, Rule of Law Accountability and Advocacy Centre (RULAAC).
The statement, titled ‘The FCID Unit Led by DCP Rita Must Be Reined In Immediately – Silence Is Complicity,’ said the police must not be turned into instruments of private vendetta.
RULAAC recalled that only recently, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) assured Nigerians that: “The Nigeria Police Force is not and will never become an enforcer for private interests… Officers have no business meddling in civil claims without demonstrable criminal elements.”
RULAAC says that assurance is being blatantly violated, with officers from Abuja attempting to break into the Lagos home of Mr. Joseph Edeh over a marital issue that is civil in nature.
In the statement signed by RULAAC executive director Okechukwu Nwanguma, he said: “Within the last hour, Mr. Joseph Edeh sent a distress message reporting that police officers from the FCID, Abuja, travelled to Lagos and are currently attempting to forcefully break into his home.
“This attempted invasion of a private residence:
*Violates a subsisting Federal High Court order directing all parties to maintain status quo ante;
*Escalates an already unlawful police intervention in a purely civil and matrimonial matter;
*Poses a clear and immediate threat to his safety, liberty, and constitutional rights.
“There is no criminal element whatsoever to justify this level of aggression. This is not law enforcement. It is a coordinated assault on the rule of law.
“This latest chaos is the culmination of a series of unlawful actions by the FCID unit under DCP Rita Emesime Oyintare, including:
*Persisting in harassing Mr. Edeh despite pending civil and matrimonial cases in Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu;
*Illegally directing multiple banks to freeze his accounts, deactivate his electronic channels, and arrest anyone operating the accounts;
*Relying on a questionable ex parte order from a Nasarawa State High Court—a state with no connection to the parties—clearly to sidestep the Federal High Court’s binding order.
“This morning’s attempted break-in represents the most dangerous escalation yet. This Is Not Policing – It Is Persecution
“The consequences of these actions are severe:
*Flagrant violation of a court order;
*Use of police power for private retaliation;
*Threats to life and property;
*Interference with judicial proceedings;
*Infringement of constitutional rights;
*And now, a potentially violent attack on a citizen inside his own home.
“A police force that acts in this manner – crossing state lines to enforce private vendettas – endangers every Nigerian.
“Immediate action is required — now. The Inspector-General of Police, Police Service Commission (PSC), and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) must urgently:
*Order the immediate withdrawal of all Abuja officers from Mr. Edeh’s Lagos residence;
*Enforce compliance with the Federal High Court order;
*Protect Mr. Edeh from further intimidation and unlawful arrest;
*Investigate and discipline all officers engaged in this gross misconduct.
“The IGP’s authority must not be undermined by rogue units acting in open defiance of his directives.
“A Nigeria where police officers can travel across states to break into a citizen’s home over a civil dispute is a Nigeria drifting away from the rule of law. This must stop – immediately.”
