A MAGISTRATE Court sitting in Wuse, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja has remanded lawyer and human rights activist, Professor Zainab Duke-Abiola, and her domestic staff, Rebecca Enechido, for allegedly assaulting a female officer, Inspector Teju Moses.
The academia and legal practitioner is said to be the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late M.K.O Abiola.
The Mbaise born activist made headlines for reportedly assaulting Inspector Moses, her police orderly who refused to do some domestic chores she assigned to her.
A video clip went viral on Wednesday, September 21, where a female police officer in uniform was seen seated on the floor bleeding and asked to be taken to the hospital for medical attention.
Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement issued on Thursday on the matter said the professor and human rights activist grievously assaulted Moses, her orderly in company of some accomplices on Tuesday, September 20, at her residence in Garki, Abuja, following her refusal to breach professional ethics by carrying out menial and domestic chores at her house.
Adejobi stated that Duke-Abiola and one of her domestic staff named Rebecca Enechido, were arrested and kept in police custody, while the police went after another fleeing male domestic worker, who is a complicit in the incident.
According to the Force PRO, preliminary investigation shows overwhelming evidence of culpability on the part of the professor cum legal professional and her domestic staff. He added that the IGP ordered express prosecution of the case.
He added that the IGP equally tasked the investigative team to ensure that the fleeing suspect is arrested and made to face the wrath of the law.
“It is pertinent to clarify that the suspect, Prof. Zainab, who name-drops the IGP, his family members, and other officers in the top hierarchy of the Force has no acquaintance with the Police in any form as erroneously peddled on social media.
“The Inspector-General of Police who similarly ordered the withdrawal of all Police personnel attached to the Professor, expressed consternation at the fact that an individual who claims to be an advocate for human rights could stoop so low to violate the rights of another individual, a police officer tasked with ensuring her protection,” the statement read.
Duke-Abiola, NaijaTimes gathered is the Chief Legal Consultant to the Nigerian Police and has her office at the Force headquarters, Abuja, she is also an alumnus of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), this conferred on her Member of the National Institute (Mni).
The embattled professor cum legal practitioner in a statement issued on her behalf by the Afro-European Lawyers League denied assaulting her female police orderly, Inspector Moses. She also called for the sack of Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba.
