Ayo Sogunro, a lawyer and activist from Nigeria, said that after a married friend came to visit him in his hotel room, he slept in a police cell in Abuja.
Sogunro stated in a Oyo community laments epileptic power supply, estimated billings 22nd June 2023lengthy Twitter thread on Wednesday that he arrived in Abuja last Friday for a meeting on human rights and informed some of his friends of his presence.
He claims that his first guest at the hotel was a married female friend (name withheld), and that the police arrived at his room shortly after she arrived.
“Of the people I texted, she was the first to get to my place,” he tweeted in part. She arrived at the hotel around 6.40 p.m., and three police officers knocked on my door just 15 minutes later. I had checked in at 6.20 p.m.
“The police asked to be allowed inside when they arrived at my door.
I told them that they could not enter a private space without a warrant or clear justification, so I denied them entry. Instead, they simply moved to the side and entered.
They asked my friend to accompany them when they saw her. We inquired as to why. The police responded, “My friend should not have been in the hotel with me because she was married.”
The activist and his female friend followed the police to the station after having several arguments with them.
At the police station, he stated that he declined to write a statement without the presence of a lawyer because he was still oblivious to his offense. Housewife wants 14-year loveless marriage to be dissolved. NDLEA makes 31,675 arrests and seizes 6.3 million kilograms of drugs in 29 months.
The Divisional Police Officer at the station, on the other hand, explained that they were in Northern Nigeria, which is covered by the Penal Code, and that it was suspicious that a married woman would visit a man. He also said that the police were right to enter his room without a warrant.
They called me for an interview with the DPO after waiting for a while behind the counter. Even though I had just entered Abuja and landed in Nigeria an hour earlier, I was still very upset about the disruption to my day.
“Everything they did wrong, I told the DPO: the arresting procedure before an investigation; utilizing the police to resolve what was now appearing to be a marital problem that did not involve me; entering a hotel room without a warrant by barging in; and incarcerating me without a clear charge.
I then inquired, “Well, if that’s the case, where is their evidence that any offense had been committed?” Sogunro went on.
He was taken to a cell, where he spent the night, after a lengthy discussion with the DPO.
Philosophical was the night in jail. I was more amused than enraged later. Sogunro came to the conclusion that “the idea of coming to do a human rights event in Nigeria and ending up in a cell was a hilarious and tragic testament to the condition of Nigeria.”
