A human rights lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, has urged the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Police Service Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission to investigate an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Amabua Ashe Mohammed, for corrupt practices.
Mohammed was appointed the Police Adviser for the Multinational Joint Task Force in N’Djamena, Chad, in January 2022.
However, the petition said she illegally acquired twin two bedrooms and bungalows, valued at Nine Million Naira (N9,000,000.00) each, with Plots Numbers 135A and 135B at Fatima Gold Estate, Mararaba, Nasarawa State.
He also noted that the monthly income of N212, 000 attributable to an Assistant Commissioner of Police could not or conceivably amount to the total value of the abovementioned properties except they were acquired through corrupt practices.
According to the copies of the petition made available to journalists, Mr Mahmud posited that Mohammed as a public officer does not reside in the mentioned properties, which suggests that she lives in another property acquired through corrupt practices.
The petition also urged the agencies to investigate the ACP for abuse of office and deploying her position to confer unfair advantage contrary to section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The petition read in part, “The above-named public officer, using her position as a serving Assistant Commissioner of Police, deployed same position to confer an unfair advantage upon herself when on 27th June 2023, she instigated officers of Abacha Road Police Station, led by Inspector Sola Olalekan, to arrest the petitioner on false allegation of assault, criminal trespass, burglary and disconnection of electricity. The police, on her insistence, did not visit the aforementioned properties she alleged were burgled and trespassed into to ascertain the truth of her unfounded claims. Instead, the petitioner was subjected to harassment and intimidation at the police station until an order came from the Police Force Headquarters to release the petitioner on bail;
“ACP Amabua Mohammed, on 5th July 2023, deployed her position to ensure that the petitioner was charged before the Magistrate Court, sitting at the Muhammadu Buhari International Market, Mararaba, Nasarawa State, on false charges. The petitioner is currently on bail.
“ACP Amabua Mohammed owes Fatima Gold Estate Association the sum of Seven hundred and thirty-seven thousand Naira (N737,000.00) being cumulative debt arising from the cost of providing security in the Estate, payment of salaries of security personnel and gardeners, evacuation of domestic waste, and physical improvement and maintenance of the Estate, etcetera. She has not paid anything since she acquired the twin two bedrooms bungalows that her sister, Zara Mohammed, occupied. Rather than redeem her debt, her family continues to emplace domestic waste from her properties in nearby residences, as the photo attached to this written complaint shows;
“In 2012, when the Estate Association caused the letter of demand for payment of the above-stated sum was served on her sister, Zara Mohammed, the ACP caused the arrest of officials of the Estate Association by officers from Abacha Road Police Station, Mararaba, Nasarawa State. Following police intervention and for an amicable resolution of the dispute, another formal letter of demand was served on her through Inspector Lazarus of the aforementioned Police Station.
The police took no action because it concerned an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
“On 25th June 2023, following assault on the security officers on duty by two aides – Ruth Adamu and one Adeniran – of ACP Amabua Mohammed, while she held another security officer, the petitioner was called to intervene. On arriving at the scene, the petitioner told the ACP that it was wrong to assault an ordinary citizen, no matter her rank in the Police Force. She left the security officer and held the petitioner by the scruff of his collar.
“On 27th July 2023, she instigated officers led by Inspector Sola Olalekan to arrest the petitioner at his home. Using her position, she ensured the petitioner was charged to court on 5th July 2023 on trumped-up charges.
“The case between Fatima Gold Estate Association and ACP Amabua Mohammed is civil – arising from her refusal to pay what she owes the Estate Association.
She conveniently turned the case into a criminal matter to avoid redeeming the debt and on the petitioner, the lawyer to the Estate Association, while using her position as an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of the Nigeria Police Force, ACP Amabua Ashe With this appointment, ACP Amabua becomes the first female Police Officer in history to hold the tasking position of coordinating policing activities, ensuring discipline and professionalism and providing advisory on the management and improved peace-building efforts, in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency by the Multinational Joint Task Force”
