Arase Drags Three ICIR Staff Members To Court For Defamation of Character

By Gideon Njoku

The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, PSC, Dr. Solomon Arase, has instituted a legal action against three staff members of the International Investigative Reporting, ICIR.

Arase, a former Inspector General of Police, and a Lawyer, said the three, Mr Nureedeen Akewushola, Victoria Bama and Mr Dayo Aiyetan, deliberately defamed his character in a publication, in order to bring him to contempt, ridicule and odium. And, he is bent on clearing his name.

When the ICIR first published the story which Arase considered very defamatory, he had, through his Solicitors, written a letter, dated 23rd February 2024, to the ICIR Staff members – Akewushola the writer, Bamas, Editor, and Aiyetan Executive Director – and urged them to retract the published story within a time frame as it was absolutely false and defamatory. The letter to the three was also copied the Chairman, Secretary and Members of the Board of Trustees of the Company. He had also threatened to seek a redress in Court if they failed.

It is an action Arase has since taken against them by a writ of Summons dated March 24, 2024, and filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court since 5th April, 2024.

However, Arase, who had refused to make the case a media event, was surprised when his attention was drawn to reports that at the instance of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, Mr Akewushola has been invited over his alleged published defamatory reports against him (Dr. Arase).

In a statement issued by Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations, PSC, on Friday, May 17th 2024, Arase sought to clarify that the invitation to Akewushola by the Police has nothing to do with the case he had already instituted in Court and that he had nothing to do with such invitation.

Following is the full statement issued by Ani.

“The attention of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission,  Dr. Solomon Arase, CFR, retired Inspector General of Police has been drawn to reports in the media that the Nigeria Police Force has invited one Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola, a staff of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) over his published defamatory reports against the person of the PSC Chairman.

“The invitation was allegedly at the instance of the Nigeria Police Force  National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC).

“It is instructive to state that Dr. Arase had instructed his solicitors immediately his attention was drawn to the publication to act on his behalf. His solicitors in a letter dated 23rd February 2024 to Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola, Victoria Bamas and Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, the writer, editor and Executive Director respectively, all of ICIR and copies of the letters delivered to them and to the Chairman, Secretary  and Members of the Board of Trustees of the company.

“In the letters, the Solicitors complained of the words written of and concerning Dr.Arase as being without justification and devoid of truth as the words were calculated to bring him to contempt, ridicule and odium. Accordingly, the solicitors demanded inter alia, for immediate retraction of the said defamatory publication within a timeline, failure of which the Solicitors notified the recipients of those letters that Dr. Arase would seek redress in court.

“Dr.Arase has by a writ of summons dated 22nd day of March, 2024 and filed 5th April, 2024 instituted at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, a civil action in Suit No. CV/1937/2024 against Mr. Nurudeen Akewushola, Victoria Bamas, Mr. Dayo Aiyetan and Registered Trustees of International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR). The matter has been assigned to a court of competent jurisdiction for hearing.

“While the Nigeria Police Force, like other security agencies, are entitled to carry out investigation of any matter which in their opinion has criminal elements, it is pertinent to state emphatically that by the pedigree of the former Inspector General of Police as a Legal Practitioner, Doctor of Philosophy in Law,  and currently presiding over the Police Service Commission, he is law-abiding, and has since instituted a civil action to challenge the heinous defamatory words published and concerning him in order to redeem his esteemed reputation by seeking appropriate reliefs.

“Dr. Arase will, therefore, refrain from publicly discussing this matter in the media or in any other way unlawfully entangling it with police powers.”