A Federal High Court in Lagos has issued an interim order preventing the Inspector-General of Police and several senior officers from arresting or detaining popular media personality Chinedu Emmanuel Ani, widely known as Nedu Wazobia.
The order, granted by Justice D. I. Dipeolu, stems from a contractual dispute between the comedian and his business partners.
The ruling came after Nedu, along with five members of his team and a media company, filed an ex parte application seeking protection for their fundamental human rights.
The court’s injunction specifically restrains the police from summoning or detaining the applicants in connection with their business dealings with the Metropolitan School of Business and Management and its principals, Mr. and Mrs. Victor and Tolulope Ariyibi-Oke. The judge has scheduled a hearing for the substantive motion on fundamental rights enforcement.
Through their legal representative, the applicants argued that the police were being weaponised to intimidate them over a civil matter. They revealed to the court that the dispute had already been thoroughly investigated for nine months by the X-Squad unit at the AIG’s office in Alagbon.
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The investigation concluded with a formal legal opinion from the police department itself, stating that Nedu and his team bore no criminal liability and that the case was purely a contractual matter.
Despite this clear finding, the applicants alleged that their business partners secretly filed a new petition, leading a team led by CSP Ngozi Braide to reopen the case and ignore the prior legal advice.
The legal conflict originated from a failed educational charity initiative partnership in early 2024. The applicants are now seeking a permanent injunction against the police, the return of seized international passports, and ₦2 billion in damages for the alleged violation of their fundamental rights.
cc: Nigerian Tribune
