The Federal High Court in Lagos has granted an interim order restraining the Inspector-General of Police and other senior officers from arresting or detaining popular on-air personality and comedian, Chinedu Emmanuel Ani, popularly known as Nedu Wazobia, in connection with a contractual dispute with a business partner.

The order, Issued by Justice D. I. Dipeolu, followed an ex parte application filed by Nedu and five others, including his team members and a media company, seeking the protection of their fundamental human rights.

The ruling prevents the police from further summoning or detaining the applicants over a dispute with the Metropolitan School of Business and Management and its principals, Mr. and Mrs. Victor and Tolulope Ariyibi-Oke.

Also named as respondents in the suit are CSP Ngozi Braide, ASP Stephen Onihane, and Inspector Echeng Julius.

In his ruling, Justice Dipeolu issued an interim injunction restraining the police and their agents from taking any further steps against the applicants, pending the hearing of the substantive motion for the enforcement of their fundamental rights.

The judge, however, declined a separate prayer seeking to compel the police to maintain the status quo on all matters relating to the transaction.

Through their counsel, J. W. Dong, the applicants argued that the police were being used as a tool of intimidation by their business partners in a civil matter.

They informed the court that the dispute had previously been investigated for nearly nine months by the X-Squad of the AIG?s office in Alagbon throughout 2024.

According to court documents, the investigation concluded that Nedu and his team bore no criminal liability, and the police legal department issued a formal legal opinion stating that the case was purely contractual.

Despite this finding, the applicants alleged that the respondents secretly filed a second petition to the same police office, this time to a team led by CSP Ngozi Braide.

They claimed that Braide and her team disregarded the recommendations of the earlier legal advice and proceeded to place the applicants under caution again, continuing to intimidate them.

The applicants further alleged that one of the respondents assaulted their former lawyer during the course of the investigation, a claim that underscores the contentious nature of the feud.

The legal battle stems from a partnership initiated in early 2024 for an educational charity initiative to raise school fees for underprivileged students.

The project was said to have culminated in a high-profile fundraising gala held in March 2024, which the respondents had agreed to sponsor at an estimated cost of over N83 million.

The event successfully generated both cash and pledge donations, but the partnership soured when the respondents allegedly demanded an unjustified refund of N60 million.

Following the breakdown of the partnership, the respondents filed a petition with the police, leading to what the applicants described as a campaign of harassment.

They alleged that some members of their team were unlawfully detained in July 2025, and their international passports were seized by the police.

The applicants insisted that the dispute was strictly contractual and should be resolved in a civil court, not through a criminal investigation.

In their motion, the applicants are asking the court to declare the police?s actions unlawful, unconstitutional, and an abuse of power.

They are also seeking an order for the immediate return of their seized passports and a permanent injunction restraining the police from any further harassment over the contractual matter.

Additionally, Nedu and his co-applicants are demanding N2 billion in damages, jointly and severally, from the respondents for the alleged infringement of their fundamental rights. (Nigerian Tribune, excluding headline)

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