March 29, 2021

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP),

Lagos State Ministry of Justice,
Alausa,
Ikeja,
Lagos State.
‘URGENT’
Dear Sir/Ma,

APPEAL FOR REVIEW OF LEGAL ADVICE ISSUED IN THE CASE OF COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
V. CHIGOZIE & 4ORS WITH SUIT NUMBER CR/MISC/ES/R/12/2020 WHICH WAS BEFORE THE
ENDSARS MAGISTRATE AT THE LAGOS STATE MAGISTRATE COURT, OGBA, LAGOS.

INTRODUCTION

We are lawyers to the Defendants in this matter who following the advice of the Directorate of
Public Prosecution, are to be charged before the High Court of Justice, with respect to charges
bordering on Conspiracy to commit felony to wit; Murder, Attempted Murder, Arson, Possession
of Firearms, Armed Robbery, Grievious Harm, and Display of Arms in Public. The Defendants in
the suit are; Chigozie Edezie (m, 19), Ismaila Olaogun (m, 20), Akinkunmi Abiodun (m, 27), Jamiu
Bello (m, 25) and Azeez Mudashiru (m, 30) who are young men residing in the Ilasamaja area of
Lagos and have never had previous transactions with each other until their arrest by the officers
of the Nigeria Police in Ilasamaja Police Division working in conjunction with members of the
Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC).

ARBITRARY ARREST AND ORDEAL OF THE DEFENDANTS FOLLOWING AN ATTACK ON THE

ILASAMAJA POLICE STATION

 On November 16, 2020, we embarked on a search and we deeply hoped to locate the
Defendants and some others who were picked by a combined team of the Police and
members of the Odua’a Peoples’ Congress (OPC) at different times and location. Most
were arrested at their homes or other places where they had gone to attend an event. A
number of them were seriously assaulted and even stripped naked in the public glare. The
young men were arrested in connection to the EndSars Protests which turned violent
following the interference of hoodlums across Nigeria especially in Lagos and led to
wanton destruction of lives and properties.

 In Ilasamaja where the Defendants all live, the Divisional Police Station which was located
along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway was razed down, and a Police Officer was killed.
Following this development, the Divisional Police Officer in a fit of blind rage and
vengeance ordered the massive arrest of young men across Ilasamaja by his officers and
members of the OPC based on any form of suspicion and information available without
stating or working on the need to properly investigate the case and make informed arrests
towards apprehending the actual culprits. The Police Officers and members of the OPC in
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 executing their plans, gained access into the Facebook Page of the Ilasamaja Youth Forum
and began to profile young men and made indiscriminate arrests based on their suspicion
and arrested about fifteen (15) young men including the Defendants.

 Subsequently, the Police Officers on the instruction of the Divisional Police Officer took
the young men into custody to an unknown location and refused to disclose to their
relatives or lawyers where they were taken to. However, following efforts to find the
location of these young men, we were able to find out that they had been taken to a
temporary building in Ilasamaja Market now housing the Police Officers. We immediately
made efforts to gain access to the young men, but the police officers on duty refused to
allow us every time we made an attempt and informed us that they were under strict
instructions from the DPO to ensure that no one gains access to the arrested young men.

 After a while, we got verifiable information that the Divisional Police Officer had released
about ten (10) of these boys to go home with no explanation as to why the other five (5)
were still held in detention and there were no updates on the Police investigations into
the matter. The Divisional Police Officer for about three (3) weeks detained the remaining
five (5) young men who are the Defendants in this case and denied them access to their
relatives or lawyers. They only allowed that food be brought for them periodically, while
other necessities like change of clothes, tooth paste and tooth brush were refused by the
Police Officers on duty.

 The lawyers representing each of the Defendant had to fiercely engage the Divisional
Police Officer to ensure that they gain access to the young men, but he refused saying that
he has resolved to keep them in custody and incommunicado for as long as it requires to
enable him nab all the other culprits who were on the run. The Divisional Police Officer
further mentioned that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and the Lagos State
Governor was aware of his actions and as such challenged us to write a petition against
him or go to court. The Divisional Police Officer assaulted a lawyer representing one of
the Defendants and called him a criminal who was enabling other criminals, and
threatened to deal with any lawyer who comes on behalf of any of the suspect.

 Following the unprofessional conduct of the Divisional Police Officer, our Damilola
Mumuni, promptly made a report to the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police
Command (PPRO) who queried why the Divisional Police Officer had held on to the
young men for that long without transferring their case to the court. The Divisional Police
Officer promised the PPRO that he would immediately ensure that the Defendants were
transferred to Panti. The Divisional Police Officer refused to match his word with action
and still held the Defendants in his custody for two (2) more days after which our Damilola
Mumuni challenged his actions and reported him to the PPRO again via his WhatsApp

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 contact (a copy of the conversation between our Damilola Mumuni and the PPRO is
hereby attached).
 Immediately our Damilola Mumuni reported the Divisional Police Officer to the PPRO,
the Divisional Police Officer reluctantly transferred the Defendants to the Criminal
Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba, Lagos State, where he was reprimanded for
detaining the Defendants for an unnecessarily long period without much improvement on
the case as the Divisional Police Officer was unable to apprehend the actual culprits. It was
after the Defendants arrived the Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba, Lagos
State that they were allowed access to their relatives and lawyers.

 It is pertinent to state that the stories the Defendants had to say about their ordeal with
the Divisional Police Officer of Ilasamaja was most horrific as he had subjected them to
non-stop torture and brutal actions in a bid to force them to confess to crimes they did
not commit. The Defendants explained that the Divisional Police Officer and his men had
severely beaten them, starved them and tortured them by tying their legs and arms
together in the ‘tabay’ style, then suspended them on the hook attached to the concrete
decking of the temporary police station, and forced them to sign statements written for
them by the police officers, or force them to write statements that implicated them.

 The Defendants informed us that at a point, the Divisional Police Officer was scared that
anyone of them could die from the beatings they had suffered, and it was based on that
he refused to allow them access to their relatives or lawyers, to buy enough time to enable
their wounds heal. The Defendants are scarred for life and have scars from their wounds
and other deformities induced by the police as evidence of their brutal ordeal; one of
them has two of his fingers disabled as they cannot perform any locomotive function
anymore and would be in need of serious medical attention. We are unable to fully assess
the level of medical attention all the Defendants would be needing. It is important to add
that the Defendants have fallen ill a number of times since they have been in custody and
remanded by the court, and their family members are worried and helpless with respect
to taking care of them, and have been restricted to delivering drugs to the Defendants
when they fall ill.

 The Defendants informed us that upon being transferred to the State Criminal Investigation
Department at Panti, Yaba, Lagos State informed us that they were not beaten or tortured
by the Police Officers and the they were allowed to give voluntary statements of their
own side as opposed to the ordeal they suffered at Ilasamaja Police Station. Subsequently,
the Defendants were arraigned before the court and remanded in custody by the EndSars
Magistrate at the Lagos State Magistrate Court, Ogba, Lagos till Monday 11th of January,
2021, who ordered the Prosecutor to duplicate the file and send same to the DPP for legal
advice. The court extended the remand in subsequent hearings.

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NEW DEVELOPMENT, VIRAL VIDEO OF THE ACTUAL CULPRIT AND A LACK OF UPDATE BY
THE DIVISIONAL POLICE OFFICER, ILASAMAJA POLICE STATION

 While we attended court sessions in expectation of the DPP’s legal advice, we got new
information and we furnished the court with update on the case. We informed the court
that there is a widely circulated video showing a young man confessing to the crime of
burning the Ilasamaja Police Station and killing the deceased police office; Inspector
Samson Ehiobor. The culprit in the video, named all his associates and described in detail
how they carried out the heinous act. It is instructive to note that none of the Defendants
were mentioned by the young man apprehended in the video who was interviewed by a
police officer. The video was shot at the premises of the new Ilasamaja Police Station, and
Police Officers were visibly moving around in the video.

 Based on this update, the court advised that we write the DPP’s office so that the case can
be reviewed and appropriate action taken, especially in the light of the vivid confessions
by the apprehended culprit. We had expressed our surprise to the court that the Divisional
Police Officer of Ilasamaja Police Station refused to give any updates to the court,
prosecution or DPP with respect to this new development, and preferred to instead allow
the Defendants to wallow in an unjust detention despite this development being brought
to his notice. We have a report that the culprit who confessed in the viral video and others
apprehended following his confessions have all being released without any effort to
making them answer for their offences. It appears that certain members of the police
apparatus and the state want these young men to take the fall for someone else’s crime.

DPP’S LEGAL ADVICE AND OUR CRY FOR JUSTICE

 By a Legal Advice dated 3rd March, 2021, the office of the DPP informed the Deputy
Commissioner of Police, The Nigeria Police, State Criminal Investigation Department,
Lagos, that the Defendants have a case to answer and it would be prosecuting the case
against them.

 We have reviewed the Legal Advice and we are of the firm belief that the Defendants do
not have a case to answer in respect of these offences and we seek your kind indulgence
and goodwill to consider our points as follows;

a. First the offences were expanded beyond what they were primarily arrested for. For all
purpose and intent, the Defendants were arrested for the violence that shook the country
particularly in the wake of the hijack of the peaceful Endsars protests by hoodlums. This
incidence unarguably took place on the 20th day of October 2020. The charge sheet
prepared by the police and filed at the Endsars Magistrate Court Ogba is clear about this.
There was never any addition of any personal or private issue with respect to the
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 Defendants. We are therefore surprised by the introduction of a purported attack and
derivative charges as it concerns the leader of the OPC in Ilasamaja.

b. Having mentioned the original scope of the arrest effected against the Defendants, the
Legal Advice seems to specifically state the way and manner this incidence arose. It
disclosed that about 5000-7000 people stormed the Ilasamaja Police Station, attacked,
burnt it down and attacked it personnel; inflicting injuries on a number of them and killing
one. The Legal Advice further stated that the Defendants were identified by the witnesses
who gave statements to the police. We can only imagine how out of a crowd of 5000-
7000, only five (5) young men can be picked and identified by the witnesses who in all
sense of possibility were not at the same location and did not view the incident from the
same angle or position. The odd of picking the same set of five (5) people out of a group
of 5000-7000 by a number of witnesses who have not being compromised and are being
truthful, is very impossible. Yet the Defendants were purportedly identified as part of the
huge crowd that attacked the station.

This brings up issues of confirming this positon outside of the purported and compromised
statements of the witnesses. Asides the stories from the witnesses, was there a headcount
to actually ascertain that the number of people who actually attacked the station were
5000-7000? Are there videos, pictures or any other material fact tying the Defendants to
the crime scene? From the Legal Advice, there is no evidence to identify or suggest the
Defendants as the leaders of the mob which would have given them some level of
prominence and visibility, so how possible is it that all the witnesses curiously identified
them?

c. An intent consideration at the Legal Advice gives it a partial outlook. It only considers the
strength of the evidence in favour of the police and not the evidence or circumstances in
favour of the Defendants. This seems to add some prejudicial colouration to the Legal
Advice. The Legal Advice stated that there is proof of conspiracy between the Defendants
to carry out the alleges crimes. If the Defendants have never met themselves before their
detention by the police at the station, how then was conspiracy proved prima facie? There
is nothing to show that the Defendants all agreed to, planned and executed these crimes.
The Defendants have also informed us that the police tortured and forced them to give
evidence to implicate themselves. Meanwhile, the real culprit they have on a recorded
video has not been taken to court to face the consequences of the crimes he confessed to.

d. Also, from the content of the Legal Advice, there is a dramatic shift from the events of
October 20, 2020, which borders on the Endsars protest, to an attack on a certain Babalola
Solomon named as the OPC Leader on November 2, 2020. Again, the Defendants were
stated to be the perpetrators. This raises issues of probity and questions the integrity of the
police investigation in this matter. It is unclear how the police arrived at the conclusion

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 that the Defendants were the same perpetrators of this attack despite a lack of evidence
showing how the witnesses allegedly identified them or anything to in fact, prove that
they are the leaders of the group.

e. More curious and presumptuous is the fact that there is a clear intention to drag the
Defendants into crimes clearly committed by others. In the Legal Advice, it is stated that
the OPC Leader identified one Tubosun to be in possession of an AK-47 rifle stolen from
the police station. This clearly shows that the witness only gave evidence implicating
Tubosun, but in a dramatic shift once again, the Legal Advice attempts to lump the
Defendants with the said Tubosun identified by the OPC Leader, and by tried to make a
connection by saying further facts showed that the Defendants were armed with cutlasses,
broken bottles, and other offensive weapons. This narrative places the Defendants in an
already prejudiced position. These instruments do not amount to firearms, but were
strategically lumped with the rifle found with Tubosun to make it qualify as such.

The Legal Advice further concludes that the Defendants robbed the police officers of their
money, phones and other valuables. At this point, the line of relevance is already blurred.
There is no specific understanding of when this issue happened as obviously two different
incidents have been mixed up in order to nail the Defendants by all means. There is also
no specific mention of the exact identity and value of the items subject matter of the
robbery as alleged. This now calls to question what the other persons of the 5000-7000
group that allegedly stormed the station were doing if the Defendants alone have been so
consigned to taking the fall for an offence they did not commit. Obviously, the Defendants
in all of these contraptions are clearly being roped into a web of offences they did not
commit.

f. Also, the Legal Advice states that the OPC Leader identified only the First Defendant as a
member of the Eye Fraternity who attacked him in his house. This identification definitely
does not extend to the other Defendants, if at all this allegation is (assuming but not
conceding to be) true. Yet for some curious reasons the other Defendants have been
lumped up in order to nail them to crimes they did not commit. There is no clear statement
as to how the OPC Leader identified the First Defendant to be the head of the Eye
Fraternity amongst others. There is no clarity on whether these alleged instruments were
examined or if ballistic experts were invited to identify details of the gun or bullets
discharged from the gun. This level of assumption against the Defendants clearly shows
that they are grossly at a disadvantage and have been determined to be guilty as no benefit
of doubt has been considered in their favour.

g. The Legal Advice does not state the specifics upon which the offence of public display of
firearms is premised, again, it does not state the persons involved or identified as
committing this offence. By implication, the Defendants have been lumped up as

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 perpetrators of this crime. The law does not support any form of assumption in this
circumstance, rather it seeks proof beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence available
cannot ground this in court.

OUR COGENT POINTS TO NOTE;

a. The Police did not fairly investigate the case against the Defendants, and only set up the
entire process to nail them for crimes they did not commit. There is an obvious cover up
and an attempt to substitute the Defendants for Tubosun and his fellow members who
have been released by the police, at large or remain apprehended.

b. The Defendants were tortured and forced to write or sign statements that were
conveniently tailored to implicate them. There is no clear show of or meeting of mens rea
(intention) and actus reus (the acts) as alleged, so in all of these, there is no basis for pinning
conspiracy, attempt or the actual commission of these crimes on the Defendants.

c. We also wrote a letter dated January 19, 2021, to intimate the DPP of the video of the
actual culprit who confessed to the crimes in respect of this case. The letter was received
by the DPP on January 21, 2021, but it was not considered or mentioned at all in the Legal
Advice dated March 3, 2021. We submitted a detailed understanding of these issues, yet
there was no reference to the new evidence despite the fact that we had provided the
video in a flash drive and Digital Video Disc (DVD). We are surprised that the effort of
Defendants’ counsel to aid the cause of justice, law enforcement and healing of Lagos State
was ignored.

d. The video we delivered alongside our letter clearly exonerates the Defendants of all
charges or allegations brought or nailed against them. The culprit, one Chukwuma Mba
from Anambra State, who resides at 11 Araromi Street, Ilasamaja, Lagos State, confessed to
the crimes and named his other gang members as; T-boy (Tunbosun), Tiny, and Sunday.
He narrated how they pursued the deceased policeman to Aje Street, maimed him by
cutting his leg, and then carried his body to the bus stop before they killed him and set
him ablaze in front of the Ilasamaja Police Station. He also confessed to stealing valuables
at the Police Station and selling them at Ladipo market, before disposing of others and
mentioned their hideout as a place called ‘Federal’ at Gbadamosi Street, Ilasamaja, Lagos
State.

e. We have not been informed of the police bringing the arrested culprit who confessed and
his fellow members to the courts in this case. We have reasons to believe that this culprit
has been released from police custody, while the Defendants have been in unjust detention
since November, 2020, and are facing the possibility of being nailed for crimes they did
not commit.
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 f. One of the Police Officers at Ilasamaja Police identified as Muyiwa has converted the
motorcycle of one of the Defendants; Azeez Mudashiru, for his personal use.

g. The mix-up of two separate events to in order to nail the Defendants also casts serious
questions on the integrity of the police case as the two incidents are separate matters that
should be investigated separately and the culprits apprehended and not to assume the
Defendants committed the offence. Also, the witnesses’ evidence appears tainted and
leaning towards a clear bias against the Defendant. The sheer mathematical impossibility
of the same witnesses identifying the same set of people from a crowd of 5000-7000 in
the absence of clear evidence is a ready pointer to the absence of integrity in the police
investigation.

We appeal to the well esteemed person of the Director of Public Prosecutions to use your good
offices to intervene and save the Defendants from an unjust detention and horrendous ordeal that
has been forced on them by the Divisional Police Officer of Ilasamaja Police Station.

We look forward to your urgent and favourable response.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully.

Damilola Mumuni
For himself and on behalf of;
1. ‘Seun Savage of Seun Savage & co.,

Enclosed:
1. Evidence of chat with the Lagos State Police Command PRO reporting Ilasamaja DPO.
2. Computer storage device (Compact Disc containing the viral video of the actual culprit
confessing to the crime).

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