Akin Kuponiyi
JAIZ Bank Plc, alongside five of its officers (namely Salamat Sheidu, Nasiru Dan Maliki, Sulaiman Ijaoba, Bolaji Balogun, and Francis Sogo Thaddeus) has dragged a Lagos businessman, Paul Udeh, trading under the name and style of IKJ Udeh Company, before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly using the Nigerian Police as a debt recovery agent.
Joined as co-respondents are the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Police Command, DCP Adams Bello Mohammed; SP Ajibade Solomon; and Mr. Tunde Temehin.
The applicants are urging the court to issue an order restraining the respondents and their agents from interfering with the bank’s business, and from intimidating, harassing, or threatening the five staff members with arrest.
According to an affidavit sworn to by the fourth defendant, Sulaiman Ijaoba, and filed before the court by a Lagos lawyer, Barrister Nasir Salau, the deponent stated as follows:
On October 23, 2025, the applicants, through the Chief Compliance Officer of the bank, received a letter of invitation from the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Police Command.
Upon inquiry at the office of the third respondent, SP Ajibade Solomon, the applicants’ counsel, Nasir Salau, was informed that a petition had been written against the applicants by the fifth respondent, Paul Samuel.
The petition alleged that JAIZ Bank Plc owed Paul Samuel about N55,000,000.00 (Fifty-Five Million Naira Only) as agency fees in respect of a property the bank purchased at No. 32, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Rather than treating the matter as purely civil in nature and declining to entertain it, the officers of the respondents allegedly turned it into a criminal matter.
On October 28, 2025, the bank and Paul Samuel were required to make statements to police officers under caution, thereby giving the petition the full complement of a criminal complaint. They were granted bail with instructions that the applicants report to the office of SP Ajibade by November 4, 2025.
Mr. Sulaiman Ijaoba further averred that police officers are now acting as debt recovery agents.
He stated that the allegation by Paul Samuel, if any, is civil in nature and not criminal.
The applicants maintained that they have not committed any offence in relation to the purported contractual relationship with Paul Samuel.
They further alleged that Paul Samuel is attempting to use brute force and extrajudicial means to coerce and recover the alleged agency fee from the applicants.
According to the affidavit, Paul Samuel, in concert with the second to fifth respondents, is allegedly making clandestine moves to disrupt, cripple, and undermine the applicants’ business operations by detaining Francis Sogo Thaddeus and other key officers of the bank.
The applicants insisted that the subject matter, if any, is strictly a commercial and civil contractual transaction between Paul Samuel and JAIZ Bank.
They further stated that they have not committed any criminal offence in the course of carrying out their duties in relation to Paul Samuel.
The applicants warned that unless the Honourable Court timeously restrains the respondents, they may proceed to arrest and detain the applicants and other key officers of the bank, thereby disrupting its operations.
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