A High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos State, has barred the Inspector-General of Police from arresting the Elegushi of Ikate Kingdom in Lagos, Oba Saheed Elegushi, and two others.

Justice Gafar Safari made the order in a suit by the monarch and two members of the Elegushi royal family, Chief Abdulahi Elegushi and Prince Akeem Elegushi, accusing the defendants of harassment, manhunt and an attempt to arrest them over a civil land matter. The royal family also accused the respondents of a plot to grab land belonging to the family at the Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

Bela Vista Property and Development Company Limited; Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kolo Yusuf; Deputy Superintendent Ibrahim Agu; one Supol Udofia and Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice are the first to fifth respondents in the suit.

The applicants alleged that while the suit was pending, the defendants resorted to self-help, inviting mobile policemen from MOPOL 46 to the land to arrest any member of the Elegushi royal family found on the land or anywhere near it. They also alleged that the IGP forged a police report which was presented to the court, ceding ownership of their land to Bela Vista Property.

At the hearing of the suit on Thursday, the applicants’ counsel, Mrs Adepeju Omotayo, told the judge that the police had sent its men to Ikate, seeking to arrest the applicants in order to frustrate the case.

However, one of the counsel, Anthony Osara, denied that the police sent their men to arrest the applicants. Another lawyer, Victor Okoye, also urged the court to dismiss the applicants’ request for a restraining order, adding that the police were never deployed to the house of the royal family to arrest anybody.

In a bench ruling, Justice Safari ordered all the parties to maintain the status quo and refrain from doing anything to frustrate the proceedings pending the hearing and determination of the suit. He also ruled that the order subsists pending the hearing and determination of a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the applicants.

The judge adjourned the case till August 17, 2021 for hearing.