Residents of Ottasona Estate in Lekki have accused police officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Alagbon, of harassment and intimidation during an operation at the estate on Wednesday morning, which they describe as the latest escalation of a long-running dispute with businessman Segun Oniru.
About seven officers forced their way into the estate around 7 a.m., saying they were from Alagbon CID and had come to "invite" residents to their station over four alleged offences, including criminal damage and threat to life.
The residents, including Nigeria Info’s Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, said the officers could not produce a warrant or a letter of invitation when asked.
Bakare-Yusuf began recording the encounter and identified herself as a journalist, after which an officer identified as ASP Sunday seized her phone.
Another officer contacted Taiwo Oyewale, described as the head of legal at Alagbon CID, who spoke to residents by speakerphone and asked them to come to the station. The residents declined.
ASP Sunday returned the phone roughly 40 minutes later, after asking that a video be deleted, despite the Nigerian Constitution (Section 39) and a landmark ruling (Uwaifo v. Inspector-General of Police & Ors) of 2026 guaranteeing citizens' rights to record police officers performing their duties in public.
ASP Sunday seized the phone a second time while officers and men accompanying them remained in the estate.
The residents said they then insisted on proceeding to the Oniru Police Station.
At Oniru station, the Divisional Police Officer told the group that the Oba of Oniru was aware of the matter, that the case had been transferred to Maroko Police Station, and that a letter inviting Segun Oniru for questioning had gone unanswered.
The letter was delivered to his residence and sent via WhatsApp three weeks earlier.
Bakare-Yusuf’s phone, held by ASP Sunday for over an hour, was eventually handed to the DPO at Maroko, who returned it to the journalist. The Otassona Estate residents left the station around 9 a.m.
A Wider Dispute
The dispute traces back to June 22, when Oniru Property Management Company, linked to Segun Oniru, a son of the immediate past Oniru of Iru Kingdom, locked residents of Ottassona Estate inside the compound, citing a court order it said entitled it to repossess the property.
The residents said they were never served an eviction notice or informed of the ruling, and that they only learned of it when they found the gate welded shut and "possession taken" notices painted on the estate's walls.
The lockout lasted roughly nine weeks before residents secured a court judgment on August 24 ordering the gate reopened.
Within hours of the judgment and the reopening of the gate, some men – whom the residents believe were acting on Oniru’s instruction – returned and re-locked it, prompting the residents to break the lock again.
They allege Oniru has since deployed police as personal security to intimidate residents, and that they have engaged armed security for protection. The matter remains before the courts.
Nigeria Info could not immediately reach Segun Oniru, ASP Sunday, or Taiwo Oyewale for comment.
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