Woman confronts police after refusing to leave hotel

…After 16 years’ alleged occupation without pay
By Chimaobi Nwaiwu

NNEWI—Mrs. Khadijat Lawal, a hotel owner from Onitsha, and her family have requested that the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Olatunji Disu, order the Police Mobile Force to vacate her property, Idoko International Hotel, at 3‑3, Onitsha, in accordance with a court order.

Mrs. Lawal also demands payment of an alleged outstanding debt of N21,666,667, which is part of a total of N50 million that she says has been owed to her family for the prolonged occupation of the 60‑room hotel by PMF 54 Squadron, Onitsha, since 2009.

Speaking to reporters in Onitsha, Mrs. Lawal said the continued occupation by the PMF 54 Squadron has caused severe financial loss to her family and left the once‑thriving hotel in a deplorable condition.

She added that the hotel has deteriorated significantly and now requires urgent renovation and maintenance. She accuses the MOPOL formation of damaging the hotel and turning it into an eyesore, and says their repeated attempts to enforce court directives have been frustrated.

“We have written several petitions to relevant authorities, including the Police Service Commission, the Force Headquarters legal department in Abuja, and the Anambra State Police Command, demanding payment of the outstanding arrears and execution of the court‑issued Warrant of Possession, yet they have frustrated all our efforts and intimidated us,” she said.

Mrs. Lawal alleged that despite all lawful steps her family has taken, the PMF 54 Squadron has refused to vacate the premises or settle the outstanding bill of N21,666,667 and has denied her family access to conduct routine inspections of the hotel, contrary to an earlier agreement that was in place before the hotel was leased to the State Government for Police accommodation.

The hotel proprietor displayed copies of legal correspondence exchanged between her solicitors, Onyechi Araka and Company, and the Police Service Commission, as well as letters addressed to the Inspector‑General of Police and the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State.

Among the documents presented were a Consent Judgment issued by the High Court of Anambra State, sitting in Onitsha, dated 20 May 2019, and a subsequent judgment delivered on 20 January 2020 by Justice D.A. Onyefulu.

Explaining how the Police authorities came to occupy the hotel, Mrs. Lawal said the hotel was leased to the Anambra State Government in 2008 for use as an operational base for the PMS 54 Squadron, Onitsha, which was tasked with securing state‑owned Orient Petroleum facilities.

“However, our dispute with the MOPOL formation arose over irregular payment of rent, which prompted my family to institute legal action against both the Anambra State Government and the Nigerian Police Force in Suit No. 0/27/2016, before the High Court in Onitsha,” she said.

“The matter was eventually resolved through an out‑of‑court settlement whose terms were adopted as a consent judgment by the Court. However, on 3 November 2021, the Anambra State Government proposed to pay N10 million as rent covering April 2021 to March 2022, while also undertaking to vacate the hotel by March 2022.

We accepted the proposal, but the Mobile Police men remain in occupation of the hotel to date. Following their refusal to vacate, our legal team approached the court and obtained a Warrant of Possession against them.

We, therefore, urge the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Olatunji Disu, to compel the PMF 54 Squadron to comply with the Court Warrant of Possession, directing them to vacate the hotel and settle the outstanding arrears in obedience to the orders of the Court.

We think this is a test case for the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Disu, who has shown that it is no more business as usual in Nigerian Police, and he should use this case to tell Nigerians that under him, no kind of lawlessness, no matter where it is coming from, will be tolerated, not even from his constituency.”

The post Woman battles Police over refusal to quit her hotel appeared first on Vanguard News.