By Charles Pemu 
LAGOS — Prominent Lagos socialite, Gail Fajembola, has filed a N50 million lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Lagos against the Nigeria Police Force and a real estate company, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services Ltd, accusing them of harassment and unlawful interference in a civil property matter.
The suit, filed through her lawyer, Akin Apara, seeks a declaration that the police overstepped their constitutional mandate by attempting to intimidate her in favour of a private company involved in a tenancy disagreement. Ms. Fajembola is asking the court to issue a perpetual injunction restraining the police and others from arresting, detaining, or harassing her over what she insists is a purely civil dispute.
Other respondents in the suit include the Inspector General of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Zone 2), the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, a private individual Ogbonna Nweke, and businessman Tunde Ayeni.
The dispute centres on Flat K9-2, Ocean Parade Towers, a luxury apartment in Banana Island, Ikoyi. Fajembola claims she was granted possession of the apartment in 2016 by Ayeni, with whom she reportedly had a cordial relationship at the time. She says she invested over $45,000 in furnishing the property before relocating to the UK in 2019.
While abroad, the apartment was first operated as a short-let and later leased in 2022 to Expand Global Industries Ltd. under a yearly tenancy, allegedly with Ayeni’s verbal consent.
However, after their personal relationship deteriorated, Fajembola alleges that Ayeni, through Olutoyl Estate, began pressuring her to evict the current tenant and relinquish control of the property. Rather than following due legal process, she says the parties resorted to using police officers to coerce and threaten her, her representatives, and the tenant’s agents.
“The police have no business intervening in civil disputes or acting as enforcers for private interests,” she argued through her counsel. She added that such actions violate her fundamental rights to liberty, human dignity, and freedom of movement.
In a supporting affidavit, Olawale Arowosaye, a litigation clerk, alleged that the police issued invitations and summons that amounted to intimidation, attempting to pressure Fajembola into surrendering the property without a court order.
She is seeking N50 million in damages for what she described as “unlawful and unconstitutional interference with her rights,” along with a court order permanently barring the police and the other respondents from further interference.
As at the time of this report, a date for hearing had not yet been set.