• Denies Ever Being Arrested or Detained
Gail Fajembola, a Lagos-based businesswoman and socialite, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking ₦50 million in damages over alleged police harassment linked to a civil property dispute.
In the suit, filed by her counsel, Akin Apara of BA LAW LLP, Fajembola is asking the court to declare that the Nigeria Police Force has no authority to interfere in private property disputes or act in a manner that violates her constitutional rights. She is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the police and their collaborators from arresting, detaining, or harassing her over the matter.
The respondents in the suit include the Inspector General of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Zone 2), the Commissioner of Police (Lagos State Command), Ogbonna Nweke, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services Ltd, and businessman Tunde Ayeni.
The dispute centres on a high-end apartment—Flat K9-2, Ocean Parade Towers, Banana Island, Ikoyi—which Fajembola had been permitted to occupy by Tunde Ayeni in 2016. She reportedly spent $45,792 to furnish the property and lived there until relocating to the United Kingdom in 2019.
While abroad, the apartment was managed for short-term rental purposes and, in 2022, leased to Expand Global Industries Ltd. as a yearly tenant—a transaction Fajembola claims was done with Ayeni’s full verbal consent.
However, after a fallout between the two, Fajembola alleges that Ayeni and Olutoyl Estate began pressuring her to evict the tenant and return possession of the property. Rather than follow proper legal eviction procedures, they allegedly resorted to using the police to intimidate her and others involved.
According to a 10-paragraph affidavit filed by Olawale Arowosaye, a litigation clerk at BA LAW LLP, Fajembola and her associates were summoned multiple times to police offices, where they faced pressure to vacate the property. She maintains that she was never arrested or detained and denies media reports suggesting otherwise.
The suit, brought under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009, and Sections 35, 36, 41, and 46 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), seeks declarations that:
Fajembola asserts that she has since handed over the apartment to Tunde Ayeni and Olutoyl Estate in April 2025, with all her furnishings and appliances still in place. Yet, she alleges continued harassment by the 5th and 6th respondents, both through police channels and media pressure.
She is asking the court to award ₦50 million in damages for the alleged violation of her rights and to restrain further interference by the police and their collaborators.
The case is now before the Federal High Court, awaiting hearing.