Henry Ojelu

A businessman and a lawyer, Ayoola Gam-Ikon, has urged a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja to order a former Super Eagles captain, Kanu Nwankwo, to pay him N1bn, for what the claimant termed his malicious prosecution by the police.

Gam-Ikon claimed to have, on March 5, 2013, been arraigned on 19 counts of fraud by the police, following a complaint against him by Nwankwo.

He, however, claimed that the entire charges were struck out on July 30, 2015 by the trial chief magistrate, following the legal advice of the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions, who absolved the claimant of the alleged offences.

But Gam-Ikon, who claimed to have lost valuable time and years of his prime life attending court and facing trial, urged the court to award damages to him against Nwankwo in the sum of N1bn.

The claimant urged the court to order Nwankwo to pay an interest of 22 per cent on the claimed sum from December 15, 2015 till the judgment day and 10 per cent interest on the claimed sum from judgment day till the claimed sum will be fully paid.

“The claimant was devastated by the effect of his arraignment, imprisonment at Ikoyi prison during the perfection of bail and pendency of a criminal charge and has been running from one hospital to the other for medical assistance owing to his debilitating ill health and has only just started showing signs of improvement,” Gam-Ikon claimed in his suit.

The claimant claimed to have known Nwankwo while he was a banker with the Gulf Bank of Nigeria Plc, where he claimed Nwankwo had an account and he used to offer him financial management advice.

He, however, claimed to have later entered into hotel business with Nwankwo after he quit his job as a banker. He claimed that Nwankwo and himself incorporated The Hardley Apartments Limited on April 22, 2004 on a shareholding agreement of 70 per cent to Nwankwo and 30 per cent to the claimant.

According to him, in the course of running the business they saw the need for expansion leading them to obtain a bank loan of N457m to raise the hotel to the five-star status.

He, however, claimed that trouble started between him in Nwankwo in the course of the loan repayment, culminating in his prosecution.

The case, which was filed on Tuesday, has yet to be assigned to any judge.