The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by an 83-year-old woman, Laura Okoh, seeking to stop the police from investigating allegations arising from a dispute over her late mother’s estate.
Mrs Okoh is an elder sister to septuagenarian veteran musician, Uche Ibeto, widely known as Jigida Queen widely celebrated for her 1988 highlife classic, Egwu Jigida. She also has songs like Ihu Ndi Igbo, Super Africa Mama and Nigeria In Determination.
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She filed the suit to stop the police from inviting or arresting her in connection with criminal allegations lodged by Jigida Queen following a dispute over a family property.
According to the Certified True Copy of the judgement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, the judge, Russell Adewale, held that Mrs Okoh failed to establish that her constitutional rights to dignity and personal liberty had been violated or were under threat of violation by the police.
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The judge, in the judgement delivered on 17 June, ruled that the courts cannot restrain the police from carrying out their constitutional and statutory duty of investigating criminal complaints where allegations warrant investigation.
“The Police have a statutory duty to investigate such complaints,” Mr Adewale declared on 17 June.
“An invitation to assist with an investigation, without proof of actual unlawful arrest, detention, or malicious harassment, does not constitute a violation of fundamental rights.”
The court consequently declined Mrs Okoh’s request for an injunction restraining the Police Service Commission, the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force Zone 2 Command, Onikan, from inviting or arresting her in connection with criminal allegations lodged by Queen Jigida
The suit, marked ID/20455MFHR/2025, was filed against the Police Service Commission, the Inspector-General of Police, the Zone 2 Police Command and Ms Ibeto (Queen Jigida).
Claims of harassment
Mrs Okoh had approached the court alleging that police officers, acting at the instance of her younger sister, subjected her to intimidation, harassment, threats of arrest and detention over disagreements relating to their late mother’s property.
She asked the court to declare that the actions of the police and Ms Ibeto violated her rights to dignity and personal liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
She also sought an order restraining the respondents from further interfering with those rights and requested that they publish an apology in two national newspapers.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, Mrs Okoh stated that she and her immediate younger sister, Ifeoma Ilodibe, were appointed administrators of their late mother’s estate through letters of administration granted in 2014.
She alleged that after their mother’s death, Ms Ibeto took possession of cash, jewellery and property documents belonging to the deceased and later converted rental income from some of the properties.
According to Mrs Okoh, efforts to obtain an account of the estate were often followed by police invitations allegedly orchestrated by her sister.
She told the court that she had been invited to the Zone 2 Police Command on at least two occasions and had lived under constant fear of arrest and detention.
Her lawyer, F. O Omoujiade, argued that the repeated invitations and threats amounted to a violation of her constitutional rights and urged the court to intervene, particularly in light of her age and health condition.
Sister alleges fraud
But the applicant’s sister, Jigida Queen, denied the allegations and maintained that the police were investigating serious criminal complaints she had lodged against her and others.
In a counter-affidavit, she said the dispute stemmed from events surrounding a property at No. 36 Ibezim Obiajulu Street, Surulere, Lagos, which she argued did not form part of the estate covered by the letters of administration relied upon by Mrs Okoh.
Ms Ibeto stated that she was evicted from the property in August 2025 following a court judgement obtained in another suit. She claimed the proceedings were conducted without her knowledge despite her long-standing occupation of the house.
She further alleged that subsequent inquiries uncovered acts of fraud, forgery, impersonation, perjury and other irregularities connected with the proceedings that led to the judgement and the purported sale of the property.
According to her, those discoveries prompted her and another co-administrator of the estate to petition the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 Command, requesting a criminal investigation.
She argued that Mrs Okoh had never been arrested or detained and described the suit as an attempt to frustrate an ongoing police investigation.
Court’s findings
In its decision, the court found that the police were acting on formal complaints alleging fraud, forgery, impersonation and related offences.
Mr Adewale held that the law empowers the police to investigate criminal allegations brought to their attention and that courts should be slow to interfere with such investigations unless there is clear evidence of bad faith, illegality or abuse of power.
The judge found that Mrs Okoh failed to provide evidence of any unlawful arrest or detention.
According to the court, her affidavit focused largely on police invitations and the alleged detention of security personnel attached to the disputed property rather than any specific instance in which she was unlawfully deprived of her liberty.
The court also noted that she did not provide details such as the dates, duration or circumstances of any alleged arrest or detention.
Mr Adewale further observed that the security officers allegedly detained were not parties to the suit and that the right to personal liberty is personal to the individual affected.
Relying on several appellate court decisions, the judge reiterated that fundamental rights proceedings cannot be used as a shield against lawful criminal investigations.
“The Applicant’s application appears to be an attempt to use the fundamental rights enforcement procedure to frustrate a lawful criminal investigation, which amounts to an abuse of court process,” the judge ruled.
The judge concluded that the dispute was rooted in serious allegations concerning the administration of family property and that the police were entitled to investigate the complaints.
“The Applicant has not made out a case for the grant of any of the reliefs sought,” he held before dismissing the suit.
READ ALSO: Police confirm probe into musician Jigida Queen’s controversial eviction from Lagos home
Background
The dispute forms part of a wider controversy surrounding the administration of the estate of Esther Ibeto and the eviction of Ms Ibeto from the family’s Surulere property.
PREMIUM TIMES reported in February that the Nigeria Police Force confirmed an ongoing investigation into allegations of conspiracy, forgery, perjury, impersonation and malicious destruction of property arising from the eviction.
According to a letter from the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 Command, obtained by this newspaper at the time, investigators were examining claims that a court judgement allegedly meant for a different property was used to evict occupants of the family’s residence at 36 Ibezim Obiajulu Street, Surulere.
The petition that triggered the investigation was filed by solicitors acting for Ms Ibeto and her sister, Mrs Ilodibe. It accused Mrs Okoh, property buyer Cecil Osakwe and others of conspiracy, forgery, perjury, impersonation and related offences.
Police said investigations were continuing into allegations surrounding the letters of administration and court documents allegedly used in the eviction. No one had been charged in connection with the matter as of the time of the February report.
While Ms Ibeto has maintained that the Surulere property was excluded from the letters of administration granted to her two elder sisters, Mrs Okoh and Mrs Ilodibe, those involved in the transaction have consistently denied wrongdoing and insisted that both the sale and the court proceedings were lawful.
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