With a direct order for the SWAT to leave the premises and relocate out of Opu-Nembe in the Nembe Bassambiri village of the Nembe Local Government Area of the state, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun has yielded to pressure on the vacate notice given by Euphemie Motel.
Following a threat to take the Inspector-General of Police to court for claimed unpaid hotel bills incurred by the Police SWAT squad deployed from August 12, 2023, to the present, the Inspector-General of Police issued the order.
The Police Special team, known as SWAT, under the command of CSP Silas Adebayo, reportedly incurred the lodging debt for a sting operation in the Opu Nembe community prior to the most recent Governorship.
Without the owners’ consent, the SWAT squad allegedly broke into the Opu Nembe hamlet and took over the Euphemie Motel, converting it into their operations base.
According to reports, Chief Timipre Sylva, the All Progressive Congress’ (APC) candidate for governor in the most recent election and the former minister of state for petroleum resources, requested that SWAT officers be sent to the region.
In a letter dated October 9, 2024, the attorney for the Euphemie Motel’s owner, Inemoye Maxwell Brown Esq., assured reporters in Yenagoa that the Nigerian Police, “as a respectable and responsible establishment has gracefully implemented on the prayer one as contained therein within the time frame provided as the SWAT team vacated our clients hotel on the 3rd day of October 2024.
However, Inemoye Maxwell Brown Esq. urged the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the highest ranking Nigerian police officials to attend the second prayer with the utmost urgency in the client’s petition, asking that the N625,000,000 only cover the above period from August 12, 2023, to September 12, 2024, and be paid within six weeks of receiving the correspondence.
Recall that the hotel owner had told the Chairman of the Police Service Commission and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun that the police personnel had been using the 50-bedroom hotel, which had a lodging fee of N25,000 per night and two conference rooms that drew N100,000 per day with both indoor and outdoor relaxation areas, for more than 13 months without being paid.
“Our client’s business premises and the facilities are almost in complete ruin and a complete renovation is imminent,” stated Inemoye Maxwell Brown, Esq. And in order to resume regular operations, it is essential that their facilities be restored.
“We therefore call on the Police IG to use his good office to direct your men and officers ,who had forcefully moved into and occupied our client’s hotel as described from 12th of August,2023 till date and counting in Opu Nembe to immediately vacate within six weeks upon receipt of this correspondence”
“That the sum of N625,000,000 only covering the above period from 12th August, 2023 to 12th September, 2024 be paid withing six weeks upon receipt of the correspondence.”
