Lagos elite club, Eko Club, has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, to cause the reopening of the club premises which policemen in the state had sealed off without any court order, saying that Nigeria Police should be civil as they were not bad and should not be given a bad name.
President of the club, Hon Tajudeen Jaiye Agoro, made the call at the weekend while addressing newsmen in the Ebute-Metta area of the state, saying that both the high court and Court of Appeal which ruled over the suit brought by the former president of the club, Chief Rasheed Babatunde Fanimokun, never mentioned sealing of Eko Club.
This was just as Agoro, a legal practitioner and former member, Lagos State House of Assembly, lamented that the club had incurred close to N20million losses since the illegal occupation by the police on Tuesday, February 23, 2021, as perishable items in the canteen were all damaged, among others.
“It is very clear, the prayers that I want to be done as the 21st president of Eko Club sworn in on the 1st of March, 2021 is that the Nigeria Police should be civil, Nigeria Police should not be given a bad name. Nigeria Police is not bad, I make bold to say that, they are not bad, they have wonderful elements, so many of them in the Nigeria Police, but the few ones should not give Nigeria Police a negative name.
“When you don’t have a court order, you don’t have any right to seal a premise. The judgement of the Federal High Court, the judgment of the Court of Appeal never mentioned sealing of Eko Club and these judgments were properly challenged as we speak and as I said earlier. There is an appeal pending in the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, statues quo ante.
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“I am making the appeal not just to the IGP, but also the AIG Zone 2, Ahmed Illiyasu that I visited. We are not in Banana Island. We are in a country where we have the rule of law as a ground storm as entrenched in our constitution.
“When no crime has been committed, when there is no breakdown of law and order, you cannot seal a premise, sealing the premises now, the club has incurred close to N20m losses. We don’t know what the cost of the damage would be,” he said.
“The court granted us an order, going to two weeks now, with the order was ignored. I have never seen this kind of thing before in my life, it is just unbelievable that this thing can happen in the State of Excellence like Lagos, it’s unbelievable. If anybody tells me this can happen in Lagos, I would argue it because I have made laws in Lagos State. I was elected twice to the Lagos State House of Assembly, so I know what I am talking about.
“That somebody would say because he has guns, these were the things that cumulated into the issue of #EndSARS, we don’t pray for that again anywhere in Nigeria because it’s a very sad story. And it comes, starts a little by little like this. And then the thing just went out of control, nobody ever prayed for something like that because it was not something that one was proud of.
“It is sad o, it is unbelievable. It is a very sad story, it has happened to Eko Club today, only God knows which next private premises that would happen to that is why we must nip it at the bud, we must not allow the shenanigans,” he added.
and then