Unsolved Puzzle Over Commissioner of Police V. Okiemute Case in High Court, Ughelli, Delta State
By Ovie Edomi
A High Court Judge questioned why a case that ought to go to a Magistrate Court was brought to a High Court, but inside source said a Millionaire Influenced the movement of the case to High Court where he knows a Judge ready to compromise but fate played a fast one on the Millionaire Businessman now the case appeared to be between the devil and the deep blue Sea
A somber pall hung over the room as few relations and friends listen to Okiemute Dennis Ogheneyoma, an Urhobo Chief and Agriculture Consultant based in Lagos, shared his plight in the hand of the Police, DSS until he was arraigned in Court. And even in the Court where the hope of the common man lies, there seems to be no end in sight to the crises he found himself in, unless perhaps, a higher force intervenes, now that the Judiciary is in the eye of a raging storm.
Chief Okiemute Dennis Ogheneyoma, a victim of a failed business because of refusal to compromise standard and sell a generating plant, landed him into big problem that he is yet to come out from.
Okiemute’s narrative was about how a man, called Mr Dikem who owes a farm in Lagos, called Dickem farm, introduced him to one Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo, a Nigerian multi-millionnaire precisely from Orogun but based in Ghana, who needed Chief Okiemute’s service.
Okiemute being an Agriculture consultant later met Louis Oghenekowhodo, in his farm located in Ughelli, Delta state. The whole idea was for Chief Okiemute Dennis to help Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo revive his farm. But the project that started on a good note soon went bad and both parties could no longer see each other again because the man, Mr Dikem who introduced Chief Okiemute Dennis to help Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo revive his farm, at a time wanted Chief Okiemute to play ball, Chief Okiemute refused. When that failed, Mr Dikem wanted Chief Okiemute to convince Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo to buy one of his generating plant, but Chief Okiemute equally refused because according to him, the one which Mr Dikem sold to another of his client, did not work well as a result, he didn’t want a repeat of the last experience. As a result he told his client, Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo that they should buy from another source which Louis Oghenekowhodo agreed to and he actually went ahead to buy from another source. What Chief Okiemutie thought was an honest act turned out to be his greatest albatross.
According to Chief Okiemute “Mr Dickem of Dickem farm called me on phone in November 2023 and told me that there is someone who needed my services as a farm consultant. Thereafter, he added Mr Louis to the call, and he introduced us to each other. After the introduction we started business conversation together. Mr Louis told me he needed my services to help him to among other things, ensure the survival of his Fish seedlings/fingerlings. After our discussion on phone, an arrangement was made for me to visit the farm physically for real assessment. When I got there, after my test and assessment, I suggested three things, namely: Water treatment for seedlings survivor, ditching of the fuel pump for a solar one and getting a fish feed production machine for a complete line of production”.
Furthermore, Okiemute noted “ l told Mr Louis that based on my experience on the job, I don’t work with a proxy client. So I made it clear to Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo and his parents: mother and father who he has introduced me to, that whatever I am doing here, Mr Louis must be available so that he can learn how to do them by himself when I am not on ground or when I am done with the job. I further told Mr Louis that if he wishes to teach his staff, he will be the person to do that and he agreed. I said so because, experience has taught me that teaching the farm staff on the basic operations is a waste of resources as most of them disappear after learning the skills”.
He added, “ Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo, his father and his mother agreed to the suggestion and Louis promised to be available always, though based in Ghana, because according to Okiemute, Louis said he wanted to be more serious with the farm business. He also said the farm manager who is also his brother will be available to learn the job. So, after the test running on the water, there was a need for treatment which I did and also carried on with the first spawning/hatchery and the results after four weeks was far beyond our expectation because we had over 200,000 pieces of seedlings and we really celebrated to the point that Louis bought me a very good wine for the result l was able to achieve”
Interestingly, while Okiemute was doing the first spawning, he taught Louis and his brother how to do it. So when he wanted to do the second one, he called Louis’ brother, who manages the farm to handle it and they got another massive result of over 300,000 seedlings and their celebration continued.
After succeeding with the spawning phase, Okiemute moved on to how to reduce the running cost of the farm especially with respect to fuel. As an expert, he suggested that they move to Solar pumps instead of spending over N75,000 daily (that was when fuel was less than N200 per litre). He told Louis the number of solar pumps needed to service the ponds and suggested that they equally dig additional borehole.
As expected, when Louis approved of Okiemute’s suggestions, Louis went ahead to contact the company, negotiated the price of the items: solar pump, the solar batteries and the panels with the contact person whom Okiemute provided. According to Chief Okiemutie, “All I did was just to pick them up and pay the person since the money was sent to my account and negotiations done by Louis”.
In his further narration, Chief Okiemute stated “After installation, the success story was so impressive that the fuel consumption in the farm was reduced to less than 20% in the day to day running of the farm”.
After all the victories recorded by Chief Okiemute, Mr Dikem of Dickem farm, who introduced Chief Okiemute to Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo, invited him to come and see him in his office at the farm. In the words of Chief Okiemute
“When I got there, Mr Dikem told me that the only reason he introduced me to the client (Louis Oghenekowhodo) was because he had a landed property in that area and that I must make sure I convince the client (Louis Oghenekowhodo) to buy it. Secondly, he said I must ensure they buy his fish feed production machine. At that point, I told him point blank that he should have told me this earlier before he recommended me because I won’t be able to do what he is asking me to do. But he said he has told me what he wanted”
Meanwhile, Louis Oghenekowhodo had told Chief Okiemute that the man (Mr Dikem) who introduced him( Chief Okiemute) to him gave him a quotation of N56.7 million for the fish feed production machine and that he Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo told him (Mr Dikem) that he doesn’t have that kind of money.
Still at a cross road, Chief Okiemute who really does not want the Dickem machine because he has bought over four from Dikem for other clients which are not working well and he didn’t want Mr Louis to know this because they speak the same language and second Dikem introduced him to Louis, so he told Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo that he should rather start on a small scale and gradually grow so he recommended another machine that would cost N15.5 million instead of Dickem machine that would have cost over N120,000,000.
It was after Okiemute installed the complete line of fish feed production machine and it was tested and seen to be efficient that his problem began.
First, the fact that Chief Okiemute allowed Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo whom he introduced to him to go and buy another machine instead of buying from Mr Dikem, the man Dikem took serious offense and promised to deal with Chief Okiemute and run him out of business. Second, he wanted Chief Okiemute to convince Louis Oghenekowhodo to buy his land to add to his farm, he refused, Okiemute offenses mounted like heaps of sand.
Unfortunately, for Okiemute too the generator he installed couldn’t power all the machines at ones so he made an amendment by adding additional rods to the dryer to make it dry faster and the generator stated working but Mr Dikem was still not happy so he hatched on this to execute his plan.
When production finally started Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo was in Ghana and his brother, the manager, who had been trained on the job was busy outside the factory. So Louis asked him to train one Mr TJ on the machine operation and field formulation which he did in less than three weeks. Unfortunately, after knowing the job, he was nowhere to be found.
He was then asked to train another person, one Mr Monday. After few weeks he left again without a trace. It was at this point that Chief Okiemute told Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo to make out time to be around and learn the techniques because the job he was supposed to do for less than three months was already running into a year. Louis Oghenekowhodo agreed but he begged him to yet train another guy who happens to be the farm security man. Chief Okiemute agreed. So he returned to the farm from his Lagos base and for over three weeks he trained the Security guard on the job.
Okiemute told this Reporter while narrating his ordeal that all the time he was doing all the trainings, he was transporting himself to Ughelli, in Delta state and he was not requesting for extra charges. Shortly after training the security guy who Louis said he trusted and that he will not run away, a month later he did. That was when Louis returned from Ghana and requested Okiemute to come over to teach him so he will in turn be the one training his staff and he agreed. But Okiemute
told him to be buying feeds in the meantime until he comes around fully. Explaining further, Okiemute said because of the cost of feeds they were just producing without a formula and an experienced person to handle the machines.
Suddenly, on July 30th, 2024, Okiemute got a call from Louis Oghenekowhodo’s mother asking him when he will come over to teach his son how to produce the feed. He then told Louis’ mother that it will be until her son returned. That was when she said her son was already around and asked when he was coming? He eventually told her that he will come the next day and he did
According to Okiemute, “when I go to the farm on the 31st of July 2024, the father, the mother and Louis joined me in the hatchery and the father said the reason they invited me was not to come and teach them but to pay the balance of the generator that was not able to power those production machine”.
Before then Okiemute got to discover that Mr Dikem had gone behind him to say all manners of things about him to Mr Louis so it was an agrieved Louis he met with his father and mother. Earlier they had asked for a refund of N9m for the generator which he helped them to install and he paid N4 million naira remaining a balance N5 million for the generator.
It was at that meeting Louis mother told him that all the machines he supplied were fake and that the raw materials he bought like corn, soybeans, fish meal etc were equally fake. Unable to bear it, Okiemute burst out saying “what do you mean by fake, and he further stated that the machines have been working well for a long time”. Besides he said “we have been using them for more than seven months and the fishes were growing well”. But Louis’ mother will not hear none of that insisting that since Okiemute went away, the people producing the feed doesn’t know what exactly to do, the fishes remain stunted and, they have changed the hammer mill flap two times and it cost them N35,000.
Explaining further, Okiemute told her that he asked Mr Louis to be buying feeds until he’s around to learn the basic operation of the machine and the feed formula. Nobody was ready to listen to him, so in trying to make peace knowing that Mr Dikem had ran him down and he was between the devil and the deep blue sea, he tried to make peace, by telling them not to worry anymore that he will fix the machine and produce feed for the fishes for a month assuring them that everything will be fine. But the father said they don’t need his service anymore and that he should refund the N5 million balance and leave.
Louis’ mother on her part said no way. She insisted that Okiemute must return the machines to where he bought them. At that point he asked whether it was after several months of using the machine and the raw materials that they now want him to return them? They insisted that they will not allow him go. True to their threat, they brought a lawyer and insisted that he must call someone to sign as his guarantor otherwise they will not allow him to leave the farm. They locked him in a room until the next day . At a point, he told them to take him to the police station instead of leaving him in the farm, locked up in a room in the farm, they refused.
When the lawyer arrived the next day, he came with an agreement paper and Okiemute had to call someone to come over to guarantee him. Even after signing the agreement which the Lawyer prepared both the lawyer and Louis’ father said they want to see Okiemute’s guarantor’s house. They equally insisted that the guarantor’s wife must sign. So, Okiemute’s guarantor had to take the agreement to his wife to sign before Okiemute was released.
Two weeks after Okiemute arrived in Lagos, he received a call from the DSS in Ikeja asking him to come and answer to a petition that has been written against me. When he got there, DSS officials told him who wrote the petition. It turned out to be Louis’ father. It was after the DSS heard his own side of the story, that the Officer in charge, asked him to write a statement and asked him to go and return again on a Thursday for a meeting with them. In their petition it was stated that Okiemute duped them N90 million. When he went to keep the appointment with the DSS, he was told that the petitioner did not come so he was told to come again by another Thursday.
A day to when Okiemute was to keep his appointment with the DSS, at about 8:00 pm on Wednesday as he was approaching his house he saw a car parked by the entrance to his house. Just as he walked past them, three men ran after him with guns and when they got to where he was, they jacked his waist and lifted him up and one of them said “you are under arrest”
This time, the policemen who came after him said a petition has been written against him at the Force CID Abuja. As they were about to take him away, they insisted on taking his car with them. So he called his daughter to bring the key to the car. That night they took him to Ikeja before making preparation to take him to Abuja. Unfortunately, it was Okiemute’s own car that was used to take him to Abuja.
According to him “ The car was not in good shape, but the Police Officer insisted that I must follow them with the car, so l had to borrow money to first put the car in order before we embarked on the trip but for God, we almost got kidnapped if not for the intelligence of the officer driving the car”, Okiemute narrated in tears.
Even then, that was when his real problem just began. Shortly after he arrived at the FCID, Abuja, the CP heard his side of the story, and he was granted self bail. But he was asked to try and pay the balance on or before the 6th of December 2024. At the Police headquarters, Mr Louis’ father was told to foot the bill for him to fix the hammer mill so that they can start production. But two weeks after Okiemute returned from Abuja, he went to the farm with his engineer to fix the hammer mill. Louis’ father said they can not start production because according to him, somebody told him that Okiemute should take back the machine.
Confused, Okiemute told Louis’ father to take inventory of the feed materials remaining so that he can supply them to other customer. He initially agreed but when it was time for Okiemute to take the remaining raw material and pay him, he refused insisting that he will not allow him to carry them. That was after Okiemute had sent four people there to weigh the items. He equally refused to pay for the repairs which he carried out including the accommodation he promised the police and the hotel accommodation for Okiemute and the engineers.
Fortunately for Okiemute he was briefing the police on happenings and the police kept telling him to do his best to make peace reign. Though the Police asked Okiemute to return to Police headquarters in Abuja on the 6th of December 2024, but he didn’t go. According to him, “I called the PA to the CP and told the PA to the CP about the attitude of Louis’ father and my plight”.
However, on the 10th of December 2024 Okiemute paid N3 million out of the remaining N5 million because according to him, the generator people have not refunded him the money for the generating set. Meaning it was remaining N2 million balance. He then pleaded with the PA to the CP to give him till the ending of February, 2025 to pay up the balance so that they can have a meeting with them and he was obliged the request unknown to him, that they were planning another arrest. Precisely on February 22nd, 2025, by 4 am police men from FCID Abuja surrounded his house took him to Area G Ogba where he was left for a week without food before taking him to Abuja.
This time the Police from Force headquarters told him that Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo did not agree with the settlement that he had reached with his father and his lawyer in their last meeting and that this time they want the matter to be charged to court so he was refused bail despite all efforts made by his lawyers. He was moved to Police headquarters from Lagos and kept in police custody until 15th of March 2025 when he was transferred to Asaba. Upon arrival in Asaba, he was later moved the next day being the 16th of March 2025 to Police Area Command, Ughelli. He was in police detention until March 22nd, 2025, when he was charged to Court.
By this time, this Editor had sent another Editor of this magazine to visit Chief Okiemute in his cell in FCID, Abuja. When he was transferred to Ughelli from Asaba, this Editor also visited him to get the facts until the matter was charged to High Court. The case with suit No: UHC/M/11C/2025, Commissioner of Police v. Okiemute Dennis Ogheneyoma.
Before the case came up for hearing at the High Court of Justice in Ughelli, Delta state, a drama occurred. Just as the defendant was in the waiting room to be taken before the Chief Judge, suddenly, someone poured water on him and they took him away but unknown to the defendant God was making way for him. All the defendant knew when he regained consciousness was that two men were telling the OC Legal that they do not want a particular judge to preside over the defendant’s case because the Judge has been bribed with N6m to send the defendant to jail.
In a country where the police routinely say the police is your friend and the citizens hardly believe, contrary to public expectations, the OC Legal perhaps amazed by what he heard, took the defendant back to police cell until 26th of March 2025 when he was re-arraigned before another Court where the Judge asked the defendant some questions. Thereafter, the presiding Judge turned to the Lawyer and asked: Why was the defendant arrested and detained for one month and why was the remand charges changed? The Judge, a female, equally asked why the plaintiff was not in Court and the lawyer could not provide an answer. Furious the Judge asked again, why the matter was referred to a High Court but there was another silence. Thereafter the presiding judge granted the defendant bail and adjoined the case to 13th of April 2025.
Shortly after the Judge granted the defendant bail, after the court sitting, a lady from another court, within the Court jurisdiction came to the defendant and said he was not supposed to be tried where he was tried as such the defendant should follow her to her court where he was supposed to have been tried.
The defendant’s lawyer quickly called the court clerk who told him that policemen may rearrest the defendant so he should notify the judge that granted the defendant bail. This was quickly done and the Judge requested that they bring all the documents in the previous court to her because her court was a superior one to the previous court.
At the next hearing which was later moved to May 12, 2025, the prosecuting lawyer stood up and said the defendant should be sent back to prison since the Attorney- general of the State has not had time to investigate the matter. The Judge however insisted that as long as the defendant has been granted bail he should be allowed to be coming to court from home.
Curiously, the prosecuting lawyer said he has not been fully informed of the development and he asked for adjournment for two months to properly brief the state Attorney-General on the case. The case was thereafter adjourned to July 14th July 2025.
At the next hearing, the Attorney-General through the persecuting council, told the Court that this matter ought not to be charged to High Court but to a Customary Court because the case was a civil case and as a result he is taking the matter from the High Court to a lower court.
The big question which no one was ready to answer is why was the defendant arrested and detained for over a month for a civil case?. Was it because the defendant was a commoner and the plaintiff, a multi-millionnaire?
The second question is: now that the Delta State Attorney-General took over the case why has the Attorney-General not gotten back the defendant’s lawyers. The only thing in the public domain now is that the people said they are no longer interested in pursuing any case.
Meanwhile, following the arrest of the defendant, Mr Louis ensured that his account was frozen until the High Court where he was arraigned ordered that his account be unfrozen. Even after the order of the Court, the press had to send a message to the bank to find out why the Court order has not been obeyed before the account was de-frozen.
Again, Mr Dickem of Dickem farm who allegedly ostracised the whole plan in order to discredit the plaintiff is alleged to have equally written to the Angola Embassy to deny the defendant a visa to Angola to pursue his business proposals all in an attempt to slander him for refusing to do his bidding. This may be why the defendant’s lawyer said “It is sad that many Nigerians especially the big men are gradually losing respect for human lives because of the atrocities they commit against their fellow humans.
All efforts to reach the Attorney General of Delta state failed. For, now from all indications, the hope of Chief Okiemute is in the judiciary but with the way and manner Mr Louis Oghenekowhodo and his parents have gone about the matter will the judiciary or the state be ready to give justice? Time will tell.