Nigerians have continued to condemn the alleged bullying and intimidation of Mrs. Chioma Okoli, a female customer who was arrested for giving a tomato paste manufactured by Erisco Foods Limited a negative review.
Nigerian police last week asked Chioma Okoli to show up to “allow justice to take its course” in the matter involving her and Erisco Foods Limited.
In January, policemen on the alleged orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had invaded the residence of Okoli in Lagos State.
The team of policemen from Abuja who claimed to be acting on the orders of the Inspector General of Police moved to re-arrest Okoli without serving any court order authorising them to do so.
Also in January, it was disclosed that Okoli had received the sum of N1.9 million donation from Nigerians for legal fees.
ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer in a statement on Thursday, reaffirmed the commitment of the police to “upholding the rule of law in the Erisco Tomato matter”.
According to him, it is imperative to caution members of the public against spreading misinformation and attempting to manipulate public sentiments.
He said the recent developments in the case are deeply worrisome, particularly the use of crowdfunding as a means to influence legal proceedings, adding that such actions undermine the integrity of the justice system and threaten the principles of fairness and accountability as they are highly inimical to the existence of the rule of law.
Adejobi admonished Nigerians, most especially social media influencers, to embrace the rule of law and shun all displays of sentiments in the case.
Speaking on the issue, Chioma Okoli’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said, “The Force PRO in his statement stated among others things thus: ‘We therefore advise the suspect to cease the continual jumping bail and turn up in court.’
“However, this document is the certified true copy of the record of proceedings of the first day that this case came up at the Federal High Court in Abuja on 7th December, 2023.
“You can see from this document that I was in court and I represented Chioma. I appeared in protest on that day because she had not been served. I had to withdraw my appearance because she was not served.
“The police were represented by their lawyer, M. L. Anthony, who admitted in the open court as you can see from the record that they were yet to serve Chioma with the charge.
“As you can see from the record, it was Mr. Anthony who pleaded for an adjournment to enable them to do the needful; that is to enable them to serve Chioma with the charge.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday [today], Nigerians held a peaceful protest asking the Police to let Chioma be. See the video:
