The Convener of #EndSARS, Mr. Segun Awosanya, has urged the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, to make public the findings of a panel set up to investigate the extortion of a UK-based Nigerian, Mr Bankole Oni Ogunnowo by some policemen.

Awosanya, a popular social media influencer, on his twitter handle @Segalink made reference to Ogunnowo’s protracted case, which is yet to have closure.

The case, which involved UK and Nigerian police, had been investigated and rested by the UK government, but their Nigerian counterpart has continued to lag on the case.

The call to close the case officially became necessary after allegations that different policemen, under the guise of investigation, continued to extort Ogunnowo.

According to the petition, policemen attached to the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos State, who had allegedly collected money from Ogunnowo’s estranged wife, Eileen, labelled him a human trafficker.

It also alleged that another set of policemen, attached to Interpol department, Abuja, came up with trump up charges against him and urged the Metropolitan Police to extradite him.

The call made the UK Police to launch an investigation, with the case even going to court where Ogunnowo was found not guilty.

However, according to the UK Police, Ogunnowo’s life was not safe, at least not until the Nigerian Police dropped the call for his extradition against him. If the extradition call is not dropped, Ogunnowo will not be able to come down to Nigeria to see him aged mother and other family members.

Ogunnowo, in petition titled, ‘Breach of my fundamental rights by SP Usman Mohammed, SP Fasimoye Bukola Rita, DSP John Oluwarotimi, Olarewaju Lawal, attached to Interpol and general investigation units, FCID, Abuja, and FCID, Alagobon,’ asked the IG to investigate the policemen and that the trump up charges against him be dropped.

He later got to hear that the IG had called for an investigation and the policemen indicted. He was further told that the panel’s report had been submitted to the IG. The petition was submitted last year, but till date, the IG had kept mum on Ogunnowo’s extradition.

Awosanya, who had become a force to be reckoned with in his activism against police violations of human rights, said: “The UK authorities believe that our fellow citizen Mr Bankole is not safe to even visit his own country based on the level of conspiracy weaponised against him by the police even after discharging him abroad. We need closure having found that this is another work of impunity.

“There is no way a crime of this magnitude should be swept under any proverbial carpet. We need the report ASAP in the public domain and urgently must bring to book all those involved. The IG of @PoliceNG should prioritise this. #EndImpunity.”

The petitioner stated that he got married to Eileen, a British citizen of Nigeria extraction at the Ikeja Marriage Registry, Lagos on February 18, 2012. The lovers met in Nigeria and after the wedding, Eileen facilitated Ogunnowo’s move to the UK.

He alleged that the marriage soon became turbulent after his wife and mother-in-law allegedly approached his employer, demanding his salary should be handed to them, after which they would give him whatever they deemed fitting, adding his refusal led to constant domestic squabble, culminating in a divorce.

Ogunnowo: “Since then, my estranged wife and her mother vowed to get me deported to Nigeria, send me to prison or have me killed. They backed their threats with actions by coming up with spurious, baseless and malicious allegations of crimes against me here in the UK.

“ The allegations were duly investigated by both the UK Police and family court and I was found not culpable. When they failed in achieving their aim through the UK institutions where things work, they reverted to using their cronies in Nigeria to come up with same allegations that had been investigated in the UK against me and my family members in Nigeria. The policemen allowed themselves to be used as tools.”

The petitioner further explained: “My estranged wife and her mother as I got to know later were in constant communication with these policemen in Nigeria. When all attempts at FCID, Alagbon and Ondo State failed, they wrote a letter to Interpol Unit, Abuja for my extradition.