A clergy man, Rev. Joseph Ngrerem has been arrested by the Police in Imo state over issues arising from sale of landed property in defiance of the order of an Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri.
Rev. Ngrerem was arrested on Tuesday few hours after an Imo State High Court restrained the Police and five others from arresting the applicant and despite that the order of the court had been served on Superintendent of Police (SUPOL) Iheukwumere.
Justice S.I. Okpara while ruling on an exparte motion filed by Rev. Engrerem, for the enforcement of his fundamental rights, through his counsel, Ike Augustine of Equity Chambers, Owerri, in Suit No: HOW /1341/2022 issued the restraining order against the police and others pending hearing and conclusion of the substantive suit before the court.
The 1st to 6th respondents in the suit are Rev. Fr. Casmir Nze, Chris Nze, Inspector Utashi (Investigating Police Officer, Monitoring Unit, Imo Police Command, Owerri, Commissioner of Police, Imo State, Assistant Inspector General Of Police, Zone 9, Umuahia and Inspector General Of Police(IGP) respectively.
The order of the court, a copy of which was obtained by The Nation was signed by the Deputy Director, Court Services, Mrs C.N. Anyanwu.
Justice Okpara, upon considering the motion exparte, also granted leave to the applicant, to serve the substantive suit and all other processes on 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th respondents by substituted means as follows:”On the 1st respondent through the 2“ respondent who is the younger brother of the 1st 1espondent; on the 3rd, 5th and 6th respondents, through the 4th respondent.”
The court further ordered that the services when effected, shall be deemed as good and proper services of the said processes on the respondents in the circumstance of this case.
The court thereafter fixed February 1 for report of service.
The principal, Equity Chambers, Chief Louis Alozie (SAN) said despite that the order of the court was served on Supol Iheukwumere and his men and the Police disobeyed it and arrested and detained the applicant same day the court issued the order.
Giving an account of the whatsapp message sent to him by Augustine, his junior in chamber who was in court for the hearing, he said four men “ in mufti and wielding AK-47 riffle, allegedly led by Inspector Utashi, the 3rd defendant , came in a bus and attempted to arrest the applicant as they stepped out of the court premises.
He said the men, who were “dressed like kidnappers without anything to show they are policemen”, trailed them from the court.
“If not that we advised our clients to stop when they were pursuing us, something tragic would have happened’, he said.
Chief Alozie maintained that his client, Rev Joseph, committed no offence known to law.
According to him, the applicant combines his ministerial work as a pastor with the job of an Estate Agent.
He said sometime in the past, Rev Ngrerem assisted Ihiagwa community recover part of their massive land acquired for Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) during the tenure of a former governor of the state, Chief Rochas Okorocha.
He insisted that the community compensated the applicant with some plots of land, which he like other natives, sold to members of the public, emphasizing that this was confirmed by a letter from the traditional ruler of the community, showing the sale of land transactions was genuine and lawful.
He explained that following the approval of medical training by FUTO, the present administration of government decided to reacquire those and even more lands for purposes of teaching hospital, noting that without this later government t intervention, there would have been no problem.
He said some of those who purchased the land took it as an act of faith, while others came for refund of their money for the now failed transaction.
“This clearly is a contractual relationship recognised in law. It is called actions for money had and received for considerations that failed. The remedy is a civil action for recovery of money. “Unfortunately, the police in this case turned themselves into debt recovery agents. In doing so, they have been hunting for the pastor that he went to court for enforcement of his fundamental rights.
“It is the order of the Imo State High Court that the police refused to honour”, he said.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Michael Abattam did not pick his phone after repeated calls.
However, a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity, said there are procedures to serve court orders.
“Police cannot arrest a person if there is court order restraining the police from carrying out an arrest except there was a petition before the court order came. Even at that if the order is properly served the police, the person arrested will be released, ” he said.