An officer in Nigeria’s secret police, Department of State Services (DSS), Paul Adesina has ordered a partial demolition of the home of one Afolabi Solanke, despite a pending court case.
It was learnt that Solanke had instituted a tenancy case against Adesina which is currently pending at the Court of Appeal.
However, the officer took the law into his own hands by ordering men to remove the roof, window and doors of Solanke’s apartment.
This is even as Adesina claimed his action was based on approval from the Director-General of the DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi.
From pictures shared with SaharaReporters, the house has become completely uninhabitable while valuables such as television, pieces of furniture and air conditioning system were exposed to outside elements.
Also, it was observed that the rooms, kitchen and other facilities were in disarray after the ‘invasion’ of the home by the officer and his colleagues.
A source said, ”A DSS officer who had a tenancy case against Afolabi Solanke which is pending at the court of appeal took the law into his hand by going to the property to remove the windows, doors and the roof.
“He said he got approval from the DG of the DSS to carry out the illegal act.”
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Friday, Solanke said he was sleeping in the house when the invaders arrived. According to him, he was still sleeping when a plank fell on his head, only for him to wake up and observe a part of the roof was gone.
He said he bought the house from Adesina in 2006 and since then, it had been a battle.
According to him, Adesina came to the house in 2018 and towed two of his vehicles valued at over N100 million away.
He said, “I was in the house, they arrived at my place around 6 am. I started hearing sounds but at first, I thought the sounds were from the next flat because a major renovation was going on there. Something fell on my head and then I looked up and saw there was no roof anymore. I stood up and peeped from the back window. I saw one Ade Jones, a carpenter in that neighbourhood. He was talking to someone on the phone, explaining that they were already there and had started work.
“I went to the front of the house and noticed a patrol vehicle with no number or any inscription on it, I saw people inside masked up with sophisticated weapons. I went back inside the room and tried to switch my CCTV cameras on because my house is well covered both outside and inside, I realised that all the cameras were now facing the wall.
“I went back to the room and opened the curtain, I then saw Paul Adesina. There was a man with a chisel and hammer trying to chisel my window. I observed they had already removed all the iron fences around my house so I immediately ordered the man to stop chiselling my window but Paul said he should continue.
“I immediately called the police emergency line and they sent a patrol vehicle to me. The officers went to Paul Adesina and said there was a complaint that they were asked to take all parties to the Garki division so they could listen to us. Paul said he was not going anywhere that he’s a Deputy Director of DSS, and that the DPO cannot interview him. He also said the DG DSS directed him to come and carry out this thing, that it was DG of DSS’ instruction and he would not leave until then.
“They came to meet me and said the man didn’t know what he was saying, they asked me to follow them to the station. I went inside the house to get my phones, by then, a plank had already fallen and broken my phones. I locked my security door and my gate too.
“By the time I got back to my house with more police officers, Paul Adesina had already removed all my roofs, ceilings, windows, fencing, burglaries and doors, thereby gaining access into my house. He stole all my money, DVR, bags containing documents, gold wristwatches, gold necklaces and so many other valuables and also turned my house upside down. Paul Adesina, Ade Jones, their thugs and the unknown gunmen they came with also stole all the things they removed from my house– roofs, ceilings, windows, burglaries, iron fencing, doors, etc.
“A man using a chisel on my house had used the chisel to remove windows, security doors plus the key, fence, entered my house. The DDR which is storage for cameras took it and took my money, bags containing documents, my wristwatches, all the money I had in the house, they carried everything. They turned my house upside down. I don’t know what they were looking for.
“This is a man I’m in court with. We have been in court since 2014. We are at the Court of Appeal; I also have another suit against him because that’s the same thing he did in 2018. I was sleeping and there was a stay for execution but before you knew it, Adesina mobilised men to my house, towed away my vehicles, with my bulletproof SUV. Till now, I have not seen my cars. I called the police, they didn’t come, they said it was because of the state and now even the stay was in my favour.
“That’s why I had to sue him again at the High Court to claim damages; he, the high court registrar, the director, enforcement. I have a lawsuit against them.
“Adesina started from a very low position. He used Chief Magistrate of Wuse Zone 6 Magisterial division in Abuja, Emmanuel Iyanna. I even wrote a petition against Iyanna and a six-man panel was set up, Iyanna was begging me to forgive him.
“I bought a house from someone and the person submitted a writ of summons before you that I trespassed into the house in 2014. My problem with this man started in 2006 when I bought the house from him, it’s a government house, he was supposed to collect the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and give it to me and I trusted him only for the C/O to come out and he refused to give me.
“He’s now claiming that the money I gave him was rent, that after all I’ve enjoyed the money and I thought he was joking. He actually went to court and this same Iyanna after noticing it’s not a case of trespass, threw out the suit. Iyanna started amending the case for them and started calling me a tenant, from trespasser to tenant.
“Iyanna manipulated the whole thing and delivered a judgement asking me to give Paul Adesina N4.1 million again and vacate the house. That DSS boy, I knew him when he was an ASD, he might be a deputy director now but he used to stay in my house, drive my car around; he was a nobody, he’s still the same man causing all these problems for me.
”I noticed that even my statement in the court is different from what Iyanna puts up there, that evil man. If I say A, Iyanna will write C, all my statements are not what Iyanna is writing. The magistrate who was supposed to precede over the matter is writing something totally different from the statement I’m giving under oath. He’s writing things to suit the script they already have.
”My vehicle that Adesina took is over a hundred million, they took my home theatre, TV, and many other things from the house, that’s in 2018 and now this is 2018. Paul Adesina came and killed my parrot, I have two parrots. He came on the 20th of November, a Saturday.
”My other pets, dog, chicken, turkey are not meant to be killed, they were also there and they were traumatised, the dog is still even shocked. Adesina broke into that place and locked them all up in a cage.
“The plank that fell on my head has caused me so much headache, but my phone and iPad, laptop were destroyed.”
saharareporter reports