I Was Arrested For Receiving a Married Female Friend in My Hotel Room – Sogunro

HUMAN rights lawyer, Ayo Sogunro has explained his ordeal in the hands of police in Abuja after a ‘female friend’ visited him in his hotel room in the Nigerian capital city.

Sogunro said in a series of tweets, that the police invaded his hotel room, where he was arrested alongside his female friend. 

According to the human rights lawyer, the allegation is that he was having a married woman in his company in the hotel room.

“As always, whenever I am in Nigeria, my friends would come to welcome me at my accommodation, share a drink or two and generally gist. This time was no different,” Sogunro said.

According to him, the police arrived at his room shortly after the female friend got there.

“I denied them entrance and told them they had no authority to enter a private space without a warrant or a clear just cause. Instead, they just pushed me aside and made their way in,” he said.

“On seeing my friend, they asked her to come with them. We both asked why. The police replied that because my friend was a married woman, she should not have been in the hotel with me. I said this was ridiculous. She was a citizen of Nigeria and had a right to meet with anyone.

“The officers insisted that she must come with them and so must I. For ‘questioning’.

“I said, NO WAY. ON WHAT GROUNDS??? If they wanted to arrest me, I would comply. But I would not voluntarily follow them to answer questions on unclear and unstated allegations.”

“My friend and I then followed them out of the hotel where a van was waiting and they took us to the station,” Sogunro said.

“After a while behind the counter, they called me for an interview with the DPO,” he said.

“I told the DPO everything they did wrong: the process of arrest before investigation; using the police to settle what was now seeming to be a marital issue not involving me; barging into a hotel room without a warrant; and taking me into custody without a clear charge.

“The DPO countered that (as we were in Northern Nigeria under the Penal Code), it was highly suspicious for a married woman to be visiting me and the police were within their rights to have intervened and entered my hotel room without all that process.”