Princess Bunmi Blessing, a Lagos-based businesswoman, has given a chilling account of the sexual assault, inhumane treatment, and imprisonment of her eight-year-old daughter at the hands of Lagos police.
With tears welled up in the eyes of Bunmi Blessing, one would imagine the excruciating trauma that the mother of two had gone through in trying to get back her property from the hands of her tenant Hajara Inusa, who had allegedly vowed to use all in her powers to possess them.
Bunmi Blessing who majors in clothing materials and jewellery had been subjected to a series of beatings and torture by thugs and land grabbers over her property rented to an acclaimed retired police officer Hajara Halimah Inusa attached to the Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
Bunmi who owns a property at No. 4 Texaco Estate, Mowokekere, Ladegboye Road, Ikorodu, Lagos rented eight out of 10 shops in 2019 to one Hajara Inusa for a total sum of N736,000 for two years including agreement and commission.
On meeting with Hajara in person to issue her receipts, she (Hajara) reportedly informed her of her desire to acquire the property outright for the sum of N25 million to which she declined.
“I stood my ground, told her I wasn’t interested in selling my property. I gave her the receipt that I went to give her and left,” she said.
This episode will become the albatross of an unsuspecting Bunmi who had no idea that her ‘insubordination’ would subject her into what she now refers to as ‘four years of emotional torture and pain’.
Recounting the several times she was beated, dehumanised and tortured over her own property, she said, “During the lockdown, I received a call that Hajara Inusa said I had sold my property including the virgin land (on the same premises) I had yet to develop to her. I quickly denied such.
“I was told she had even erected two structures on my virgin land and even put two her employees in Uba and Hope Emeka there. My virgin land was all fenced. So I wondered how she gained entrance.”
Bunmi immediately went to her property to verify the claims and found that it was true, to her amazement.
She called her tenant Hajara to find out why she did that despite her insistence that she wasn’t selling. She said she instructed her to pull them down immediately and move out of her property upon the expiration of her tenancy in 2021.
However, Hajara reportedly apologised that she thought Bunmi would eventually sell her property.
The matter was reported at the police station but they never looked into it as they saw her as a powerful and influential woman, Bunmi said.
But Who Is Hajara Inusa?
Her identity is shrouded in secrecy but she reportedly paraded herself at the time to be a police officer at the monitoring unit in the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
She also claimed to be a wife of a former Inspector General of Police, MD Abubakar.
Hajara has never been seen in police uniform but her romance with the high and mighty in the police force leaves much to be desired.
By December 9, 2021, Bunmi who had just lost a 3 months pregnancy said two men and a woman who claimed to be police officers from Force HQ in Abuja came into her shop while she was attending to a customer who had come to buy fabrics and gold requesting that she should follow them to Abuja.
She declined as the visitors had failed to identify themselves.
“I asked them to show me their arrest warrant and an identity card to prove they were officers of the law. They couldn’t. They took my N300,000 and my iPhone at that time and have not returned them till today,” she said.
Bunmi who at this time was allegedly subjected to a barrage of slaps and forcefully dragged out of her shop was saved by the intervention of her neighbours and passers-by who had requested to know why she was being manhandled that way.
The visitors were later identified to be thugs and land grabbers in Ladegboye and not police officers as claimed. They were identified to be Lampard and the other one as Odofin Adeoye.
They claimed they were sent by their boss Abass Bawa who was then the Commander of Area N at Ijede Police Station.
Bunmi and her lawyers went to Area N the following day to lay complaints over what she had gone through.
But to her surprise, she said she met her tenant Hajara Inusa, her partner Ogbonna Onugbu wining and dining with the commander, along with the thugs who assaulted her the previous day.
This time Bunmi sensed danger but was determined to report the matter regardless.
“I went directly to the Commander’s office, Abbas Bawa who in turn accused me of assaulting his officers. I was confused and told him the reverse was the case and that they even took away my personal belongings.
“All of a sudden, this man handcuffed me like a common criminal and told his boys to take me away to an uncompleted building where I was beaten black and blue and stripped naked.
“Something like an electric shock (taser) was used on my waist. My tenant Hajara brought out a pistol threatened to kill me and nothing will happen to her. The thugs who giggled said they would prepare a document and sign it as a handover of my property to Hajara.”
Bunmi who had gone to Ijede Police Station to report a case of assault and robbery said she ended up being the victim.
She was eventually released same night at 10 to reunite with her families.
The 37-year-old Bunmi with her lawyer Eleto Yakubu decided to file for fundamental human rights in court. However, that reportedly opened a new chapter of terror faced at the hands of Hajara and her alleged thugs.
“I wrote a petition to then the Commissioner of Lagos CP Hakeem Odumosu at the State Command and all the people involved were all served for hearing to begin in January 2022,” she said.
But just a few days to the hearing, Bunmi was yet again visited by four armed men at her shop. They requested she followed them for the sake of reconciliation. She was beaten there again like a child upon her insistence and taken away first to Igbogbo police station. She was reportedly rejected there by the DPO. And later driven away that night to Ijede to meet Abass Bawa.
“That day I was even tear-gassed and bundled into a waiting van to Ijede. One of the thugs fondled my breasts and inserted his fingers into my private parts. I couldn’t do anything since I was in handcuffs. I could only cry and beg them to stop.
“Upon arrival, I was given another round of slaps. My legs were chained and I was dragged on the floor. They cut my hair, stripped me naked again and put me in a male cell. But thankfully, my fellow inmates did not touch me or molest me to which I’m still grateful for,” she said.
Despite pleas by Bunmi’s family members that she should be released, Abass Bawa, the commander allegedly ordered that she should be taken to a secret cell at the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti at Yaba. She was rejected there by the commander and ordered to be taken to the hospital as she was still bleeding.
Bunmi was at this time accused by her tenant of theft and destroying her property. She was also accused of beating up one of the police officers. Something she found amusing and denied.
A distraught looking Bunmi then said she was ordered to be taken to the hospital for treatment and asked to go back home for recovery with the promise to look into the allegations at the scene of crime once she was ready.
“Two weeks after, officers from Panti followed me to my property where Hajara rented and found out that her accusations that I stole her CCTV worth N10 million, generator worth N9 million were all but false. They found me innocent and ordered her to remove the illegal structures on my land,” she said.
As expected, Bunmi said the case died a natural death.
Continuing, Bunmi said she closed her business and left Ikorodu for a while, to seek refuge rest of mind.
Upon her return and resumption of business. Bunmi was yet again visited by her abusers at her shop. According to her, her eight-year-old daughter wasn’t spared this time. She was reportedly dragged alongside her mum to Alagbon police station in Ikoyi.
Bunmi’s crime this time was that she allegedly stole an air conditioner worth N3 million and goods worth millions of naira from Hajara’s shop. All of which she denied again.
She said, “My eight-year-old daughter slept with me overnight in the cell. She was accused of videoing me while they came for my arrest. They deleted every single picture and video from her phone and mine and erased every trace of their atrocity against me.
“We were released the following day. Two men from the X-squad Akogun Jonah and Abdullahi followed us to the scene of crime to verify the claims of Hajara and found nothing on me yet again. I was even beaten and manhandled by Hajara’s boys at the scene. She chased me with a gun in car while I ran for my dear life. She kept screaming that no one will stop her from acquiring my property. I noticed I was bleeding from my private parts and had to visit my village for proper care.”
Bunmi’s travails were far from over. Her drive and insistence may have taken a dig at her normal life, but her doggedness in her fight for what truly belonged to her remained legendary.
She returned from her travels and filed a petition with human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) to seek justice.
And not too long, the then AIG Usman Balele called her over the phone suggesting a reconciliation with her tenant.
To Bunmi’s amazement, she was slammed with a six-count charge by Hajara for defamation.
She went to court for the hearing and was granted bail to appear at a later date.
Bunmi said while she was fulfilling her bail conditions after the court session, she was forcefully taken away again and dumped in the cell by police officers on the orders of Hajara.
“When the magistrate heard I was taken away, he ordered my return immediately to the court where I eventually perfected my bail and left with my family,” she said.
She said at a later hearing in court where both the defendant and complainant appeared, Hajara failed to identify herself before the judge when asked for her position in the police force. She subsequently stopped honouring court sessions and the case was struck out in 2022.
She said, “My life honestly has never been the same. I filed a repossession of my property when her rent was due. Hajara was served but refused to send her solicitors. I got a favorable judgment in July of 2022. Angered by this, Hajara went to my property and utterly vandalised them to ruins.”
Although Bunmi reported the matter again to Ladegboye police station. They allegedly declined to intervene and advised she approach the state police command.
She wrote a petition to the command where three of Hajara’s thugs were reportedly eventually arrested. They reportedly confessed to the crime and singled out Hajara and her partner Ogbonna Onugbu as the brains behind their actions.
Sensing danger, Hajara fled Lagos to Abuja for refuge.
“At least three commissioners of police had sent signals to Hajara to appear before them. But she refused. And while at Abuja, Hajara filed another petition against me on defamation at Apo High Court, FCT. I was summoned to Abuja. So I went on the 9th of May 2024,” Bunmi said.
Bunmi then approached Apo police station in Abuja to report that she had sighted Hajara and her partner Ogbonna who were earlier declared wanted in Lagos by the state police command and Ikeja High Court.
She said she was subsequently taken away on the orders of Hajara to an unknown destination.
The DPO of Apo was helpless when calls came to his phone to release Bunmi by five armed police officers who had come for her on the orders of CSP Danko from the Force HQ.
“I was rushed into a waiting van, driven away with no idea where I was been taken to. And almost 2 hours into our journey, I sighted a military checkpoint. I hit the side glasses screaming for help. The soldiers sensing I was in danger ran after us, stopped us and requested for their identity. They claimed to be from the Force HQ and were heading there. The soldiers told them they were taking a wrong route and ordered that they should turn back. They escorted us to the Force HQ ensuring I was safe then left afterwards,” she narrated.
When officers at the Force HQ realised what was happening, they asked Hajara who requested her to bring Bunmi to the Force HQ. According to Bunmi, she kept on mentioning different names including the Force Police Public Relations Officer ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Bunmi said all of the names mentioned denied any involvement in the issue. She said Hajara at that time was deceitfully using a wheelchair to whip up sentiment.
She said, “Coincidentally I had sent the Force PRO text messages on this matter that I needed his help. But he kept indulging Hajara, making it look like the self-proclaimed police officer Hajara Inusa could not be arrested.”
This time, Bunmi said she filed a petition at the Force Criminal Investigation Department. Luckily for her, Hajara was invited and arrested by the police and subsequently transferred to Lagos where her case was originally instituted.
Bunmi fears that the case could be swept under the carpet owing to Hajara’s influence and affluence.
According to her, nothing has so far been heard about her case.
“I want Nigerians and the media to help me get justice. I want my property back from this terror of a woman. I want my life back. I still feel unsafe. I fear this case might be swept under the carpet. I am not safe,” she said.
SaharaReporters made efforts to reach out to Hajara Inusa and her partner Ogbonna Onugbu to give their own side of the story.
Hajara didn’t answer calls nor reply to the several messages sent to her. In his reply on WhatsApp, Ogbonna initially said he would get back to our reporters but days later sent a message saying, “Wait for police.”
When SaharaReporters contacted the Lagos State Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin over the matter, he said he was not aware of the issue.
Replying to messages sent to him, he simply said: “News to me.”
The Force Police Public Relations Officer ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi was also quizzed on the matter but referred our reporter back to the Lagos police command spokesperson in a WhatsApp message, saying: “I can’t remember, Pls ask Ben, Thanks.”
