A Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Alexander Owoeye, has issued a restraining order barring Nigerian security agencies from inviting, interrogating, or arresting Pastor Adeolu Adeboye, son of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in connection with an ongoing N8.7 billion contract dispute.
The order, as handed down, followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the directors of Ronchess Global Resources Plc, a company at the heart of the dispute with the Kaduna State Government.
In the suit marked FHC/L/CS/1211/2024, the court ruled in favour of the applicants, declaring that attempts by the respondents, including the police and anti-graft agencies, to investigate or arrest the directors amounted to a violation of their constitutional rights.
Justice Owoeye specifically restrained the Inspector-General of Police, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Department of State Services (DSS), from taking any enforcement action against Adeolu Adeboye and his fellow directors.
The court further ordered all Nigerian financial institutions to grant the applicants unrestricted access to their bank accounts, allegedly frozen or limited as part of the ongoing dispute.
Other directors named in the suit include Tafida Yusuf, Adebosin Temitope, Josephine Uruevo, Leon Kelly, Adeboye Adeolu, Okafor Akalaka, Waziri Habibah Adamu, Captain Niyi Ogunowo, Ukuevo Jackson, and Adeboye Adebimpe.
The Kaduna State Government and the Kaduna State House of Assembly were also respondents in the case, which stems from a disputed N8.7 billion contract awarded to Ronchess Global Resources.
The same contract is the subject of a civil suit before the Kaduna State High Court, registered as Suit No: KDH/KAD/594/2024.
Justice Owoeye, in his judgment, stated that a letter dated June 27, 2024, from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), inviting the directors for questioning at the request of Kaduna authorities, was a direct violation of their constitutional rights.
“The invitation of the applicants in respect of the contracts awarded to Ronchess Global Resources Plc amounts to a flagrant violation of their fundamental rights under sections 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the Constitution,” the court declared, adding that the action was “illegal, unconstitutional, null, and void.”
Justice Owoeye emphasised that such law enforcement actions constituted harassment, especially since the matter is already pending before a civil court in Kaduna.
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