A Federal High Court in Lagos has ruled in favor of popular relationship expert, Ms. Blessing Okoro, famously known as Blessing CEO, in a legal dispute against the Inspector General of Police and others.
The court granted a cost of N50,000 against Mrs. Folashade Samuels, a nominal complainant and the 4th respondent in the case, which centers around Okoro’s alleged illegal detention in 2022.
Ms. Okoro, in a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed in February, sought N75 million in damages for her unlawful detention. She claimed that Mrs. Samuels instigated her arrest to embarrass her.
According to Okoro’s lawyer, Mr. Prince Nwafuru, the detention on December 15, 2022, was based on a second petition by Mrs. Samuels, despite Okoro having been granted administrative bail earlier for a previous petition by the same complainant.
Okoro argued that the second petition leading to her arrest was ill-advised, rooted in false information, and made in bad faith. She further contended that Mrs.
Samuels hurriedly approached the police in Abuja when dissatisfied with the administrative bail granted at Panti.
Okoro sought restraining injunctions against the police, asserting that the entire episode was a deliberate attempt to embarrass her, citing the police’s allowance for Mrs. Samuels to take her picture and circulate it to bloggers.
During the hearing on November 8, Mrs. Folashade’s lawyer, Mr. H. Eromosele, informed the court that he filed his defense out of time and applied for leave to regularize it.
However, Okoro’s lawyer objected, arguing that the respondent had not paid the default fee as prescribed by the court rules.
In response to the objection, Justice A. Lewia-Allagoa granted a cost of N50,000 against the 4th respondent, Mrs. Folashade, and adjourned the matter until December 5, 2023, for further proceedings.
