Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has criticised the Nigeria Police Force over its handling of the questioning of the father of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the acclaimed Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying there was no justification for taking the elderly man to a police station.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, Falana, who represents Adeyemi, argued that the action could not be justified under the Constitution, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Nigeria Police Act.
“The reported arrest of Mr Adeyemi’s father cannot be justified under the Constitution, under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, and under the Nigeria Police Act,” he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, however, disclosed that police authorities later contacted him to clarify that Adeyemi’s father had not been arrested but was only invited to assist investigators.
According to Falana, police officers in Abuja informed him that the elderly man was taken to identify a location relevant to the investigation, where he made a statement before being released.
“I got a call from the police officers in Abuja this evening, where I was informed that the old man wasn’t really arrested. The police merely invited him to take them to a particular place as part of their investigation, and that he was asked to make a statement,” he said.
Falana added that the statement was not taken under caution and that Adeyemi’s father, along with another family member, was allowed to return home after the exercise.
Despite the clarification, the senior lawyer maintained that the police should have obtained the elderly man’s statement at his residence rather than taking him to a police station.
“Whichever way it is, if the police officers involved had wanted the father of Mr Adeyemi to assist them in their investigation, they should have taken his statement in his house and not in a police station. I do hope that this will not repeat itself,” he said.
The comments followed reports that police officers visited the Adeyemi family residence while searching for Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who is standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation over the alleged PFIPC scandal.
