Ghanaian Business mogul and owner of Jonah Capital; the developers of River Park Estate in Nigeria and his partners have sued the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Olukayode Egbetokun, the Commissioner of Police of the FCT, Ajao Saka Adewale, and the Head of the IGP Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters, DCP Akin Fakorede, and others for the alleged continuous violation of their fundamental rights over the River Park Estate dispute.
The directors of Jonah Capital Nigeria Limited and Houses for Africa, Samuel Esson Jonah, Kojo Ansah Mensah, Victor Quainoo, and their legal practitioner Abu Arome, brought the suit seeking, among other reliefs, the sum of N200 million as exemplary damages against the defendants for alleged intimidation, human rights violation.
Others joined in the suit before a Federal High Court, Abuja, are the FCT Zonal Commander of the EFCC, Micheal Wetkas, an EFCC investigator, Eunice Vou Dalyop, also an ACE 1; and one Kabiru Baba.
The suit according to the plaintiffs follows several petitions over the trespass and ownership of the estate, which forced the IGP to set up a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to harmonize and investigate the petitions forwarded by different interests.
The businessmen claimed that after several weeks of sitting, the panel concluded its report and forwarded same to the IGP, who in turn informed the parties through the Principal Staff Officer 1 to the IGP that the report submitted by the SIP will be sent to the Commissioner of Police, Legal to review and look out for criminal and triable offences.
According to the Ghanaian businessmen, Paulo Homes Limited on the 10th of April 2025 wrote another petition to the IGP alleging the same forgery against them, which had already been investigated by the SIP.
The Ghanaians also informed the court that despite different letters, such as that of March 20, 2025 and April 16, 2025, sent to IGP Egbetokun and Fakorede, for the release of the investigation report of the Special Investigation Panel conducted by an 11-member team, they have received no reply, instead The Head of the IG Monitoring Unit, Fakorede, allegedly commenced another investigation on the same subject matter, in a bid to alter the report of the 11-man panel of the IGP investigation panel.
The investors allege that, despite purporting to be conducting a fresh investigation into the matter, Fakorede, who is a Deputy Commissioner of Police and former head of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), had continued to invite them, harass and intimidate them.
They also informed the court that, in what appears to be double jeopardy, the EFCC arrested Mr Kojo Ansah Mensah, the CEO of JonahCapital and Houses for Africa Nigeria, and interrogated him for several days.
Consequently, the Ghanaian investors petitioned the Hashimu Argungu-led Police Service Commission, complaining against the conduct of the hierarchy of the force as well as the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), seeking their intervention as the supervisory body for the police and the chief law officer of the federation, respectively.
Further, the plaintiffs are contending that law enforcement agencies, such as the police and the EFCC, have no powers to interfere with or meddle in disputes of purely civil nature between citizens in contracts of which the law courts are best suited and appropriately empowered by the constitution to handle.
Furthermore, they are contending that the IGP, FCT Commissioner of Police and the Head of the Monitoring Unit have no powers to deploy officers and institutional powers to intimidate and harass them on their validly allotted land “in the purport of settling a civil dispute in the enforcement of terms of a purely civil contractual and commercial transaction.”
They want the court to make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police and EFCC officials from further inviting, intimidating, harassing and arresting or detaining them in respect to matters or body of matters which are the subject heads of agreement dated June 1, 2012, addendum heads of agreement of June 1, 2012 and completion agreement of July 13, 2012, under the guise of investigation into allegations of forgery and conspiracy to forgery.
Besides their demand for N200m in damages demanded by their lead counsel, Adedayo Adedeji (SAN), the Ghanaians are also seeking an order of court compelling the police and the EFCC to release the report of the investigation by the Special Investigative Panel of the Nigeria Police Force led by DCP Usman Ahmed Imam of the Force Criminal Investigation Department.
They are seeking among others, a declaration “that the continuous invitation, re-invitation, purported investigation and re-invitation, purported investigation and reinvestigation and intimidation of the 1st to 4th plaintiffs and their privies by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th defendants, their agents, officials, servants and/or privies since September 2024 with respect to matters or body of matters, which are the subject of civil contracts constitutes gross violation of their fundamental human rights to dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, freedom of movement, right to property, enshrined in and guaranteed by Sections 35(4)(a) & 36(4) and (6) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Articles 5, 6, & 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act LFN, 2004.”
According to the affidavit deposed to by Mr Kojo Ansah Mensah, the dispute became full blown when on September 9, 2024, worried by the encroachment and sale of their lands, Jonah Capital Ltd petitioned the police against Paul Odili of Paulo Homes Ltd, accusing him of land grabbing, instigation of violence and threat to life, among others.
Giving a background to the dispute, Mensah explained that his company, Jonah Capital Ltd invited the Nigerian firm, Paulo Homes Limited as a partner to process relevant building approvals under a Joint Venture Agreement dated January 28, 2013.
In the agreement, Jonah Capital through its development vehicle, Houses for Africa Nigeria Limited, offered Paulo Homes 30% of such quantity of land he is able to obtain building approvals and permits for, but the latter allegedly breached the agreement and began to encroach on more portions of the land and accused Sir Samuel Jonah, Victor Quainoo and Kojo Ansah Mensah of forgery.
Similarly, the former director of the Houses for Africa, Adrian Ogunmuyiwa, who in 2012 relinquished his stake to Jonah Capital Ltd in exchange for 140 hectares in the estate and the director for Houses for Africa Nigeria, John Townley-Johnson, who also resigned and relinquished his shares to Jonah, all made a u-turn and accused the Ghanaians of forgery of the very documents through which they surrendered their shares.
These agreements are Heads of Agreement dated June 1, 2012; the Addendum to Heads of Agreement of June 1, 2012; and the Completion Agreement of July 13, 2012 between the parties Samuel Esson Jonah and Houses for Africa Holdings Inc.
Police shun AGF’s request for release of investigation report
Meanwhile, the IGP has failed to respond to the request by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation for the release of the Special Investigation Panel Report in respect of the River Park Estate.
In a letter dated May 16, 2025, and received by the IGP’s office on May 19, 2025, and signed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed Baba Abubakar, noted that the office is in receipt of a petition dated May 7, 2025 from Messrs Samuel Esson Jonah in respect and to demand the forwarding of the case file.
The DPP wrote: “I am directed to request that you forward the duplicate case file and the final report of the Special Investigation Panel in this matter for the consideration of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. This will enable him to take an informed decision on the same.
“Please, accept the warm regards of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”
Similarly, the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria, through its Acting High Commissioner, Eddison Mensah Agbenyegah, on April 9, 2025, wrote to the IGP for the certified true copies of the final report of the Riverpark Estate and undertook to pay for all the legitimate costs, yet there was no reply.
Jonah Capital also petitioned against the EFCC zonal head, Wetkas for his alleged unprofessional conduct in opening an investigation in a matter he knew was already before the Nigeria Police by summoning him on allegations of obtaining by false presence, forgery and conspiracy via the Head of Visa and Migration Fraud.
The Ghanaian investors have, through videos, detailed how the Nigerian Police Force from the Mopol 45, has been harassing and intimidating them from gaining access to their lands while permitting Paulo Homes’ workers to access the same land and build.
In the petitions attached to their court process, Jonah Capital, explained that while the petition by Ogunmuyiwa and Townley-Johnson were investigated and concluded by the Special Investigation Panel set up by the IGP Egbetokun, no criminal charges were brought against the directors of Jonah Capital.
However, Paulo Homes, through its general manager, Giles Azania, wrote another letter to the Inspector General of Police dated April 10, 2025, where he demanded further investigation into the allegations of forgery earlier made by Ogunmuyiwa and Townley-Johnson, and which was investigated by the special panel.
Following the petition, the IGP Monitoring Unit began a fresh, inconclusive investigation while refusing to release the earlier report by the special panel.
The Ghanaian investors aver that the police are yet to make public any of the reports of their two investigations into the matter.
