A Lagos-based investigative journalist, Ms. Juliana Ebere Francis, has instituted legal proceedings at the Federal High Court in Lagos against the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and the Nigeria Police Force over their alleged failure to respond to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request relating to grave allegations of child trafficking, abuse, and police complicity.
In a suit filed on her behalf by human rights lawyer and FOI advocate, Mr. Monday Arunsi of FOI Attorneys, the journalist is seeking leave of the court to apply for judicial review pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, and is asking the court to compel the police authorities to provide answers to questions of urgent public concern raised in her request dated June 16, 2025.
Brought pursuant to Order 34 Rules 1 and 3 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, and Sections 1(3), 4, 7, 20, and 22 of the FOI Act, the motion ex parte filed by Ms Francis seeks to invoke the court’s supervisory jurisdiction over the Lagos Police for what she described as their “refusal and/or failure to respond” to a lawful request for public information.
Ms. Francis, Editor of SecurityNewsAlert.com, an online platform focused on human rights, criminal justice, and security issues in Nigeria, is seeking leave from the court to apply for a judicial review pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, and to seek the following reliefs:
- A declaration that the failure and/or refusal by the Police Commissioner to grant access or make available the information requested via her letter of June 16, 2025, constitutes a violation of her statutory right of access to information under Sections 1(1), 4(a) and (b) of the FOI Act.
- A declaration that the Commissioner’s failure to issue a written notice of denial citing reasons and the sections of the Act relied upon is a further breach of Sections 4(b) and 7(1)-(3) of the FOI Act.
- An order compelling the police to provide details on why a 10-year-old girl, allegedly trafficked into Lagos and subjected to abuse, was secretly released to her supposed traffickers without conducting a DNA test, despite the test already being paid for by an NGO.
- An order directing the Commissioner to disclose why Madam Ifeoma Okoye, accused of inflicting injuries on the minor and denying her access to education, has not been arrested.
- Clarification on why officers of the Christ Holy Church International, who allegedly shielded Madam Okoye from arrest and facilitated her escape, have not been held accountable, despite ₦220,000 being paid to the police by the church for her purported tracking and arrest.
- An order compelling the Police to disclose to her the reasons why individuals alleged to have trafficked the minor from Imo State and received monthly payments for her domestic servitude remain unprosecuted despite being identified.
- An order directing the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to deposit the requested information with the Court pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
- An order awarding her ₦1,000,000.00 (One Million Naira) as exemplary and aggravated damages for the unlawful denial of access to public records.
- An order directing the relevant prosecuting authority to initiate criminal proceedings against the police officers responsible for the FOI violations under Section 7(5) of the Act.
Ms Francis claimed in her statement in support of the motion that the information she requested concerns issues of compelling public interest, particularly as it relates to the protection of vulnerable children, the integrity of state institutions, and Nigeria’s obligations under domestic and international human rights and child protection laws.
She stated that the Lagos State Police Command was served with the request on June 16, 2025, and the statutory 7-day response period had long expired without any response or formal denial, thus constituting a refusal under the FOI Act.
Hearing in the suit has been fixed for September 25, 2025 before Justice Daniel Emeka Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
