Musa Saliu, a businessman and former governorship candidate in Kogi State, has filed a lawsuit against the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, and others at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Saliu’s suit, filed on June 14, 2024, seeks to declare that the police publication of his picture and name in the Special Police Gazette bulletin as a wanted person was an unlawful violation of his fundamental rights.

The respondents in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, and Funmilola Olorunfemi.

Saliu claims that the dispute arose when Olorunfemi, a subscriber to one of his estates under construction, paid N25m but work was halted after the FCT Department of Development Control demolished the estate.

Olorunfemi then asked the police to recover her money, despite Saliu’s efforts to resolve the issue and restart construction.

Saliu contends that the police had no authority to get involved in the dispute between him and Olorunfemi, which is a civil matter.

He argues that publishing his picture and name as a wanted person was an invasion of his privacy and dignity, and a violation of his constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.

In addition to seeking an apology from the police to be published in the Special Police Gazette bulletin and two national dailies, Saliu is demanding N500m in damages for the violation of his fundamental rights.

He is also seeking an order to unfreeze his bank account number 1000129689 with Globus Bank, which was frozen by the police without justification.

No hearing date has been assigned yet.

As of this report, the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, had not responded to our request for comment on the matter.