Judge Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday received an update on the whereabouts of an elusive case file on police officers implicated in the disappearance of a businessman who was abducted by the officers from his home in 2017.
Mrs Nyako ordered the IGP in a judgement she delivered in September 2025 to release the case file to Nnenna Anoze, the wife of the missing businessman, John Anozie.
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But the police authorities have ignored the judgement since its delivery about 10 months ago.
Mrs Anozie, through her lawyer, Vincent Adodo, decided to institute a contempt suit in December 2025 against the then-Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, for disobeying the court judgement.
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However, the proceedings made little progress until Mr Egbetokun left office in February, when incumbent IGP Tunji Disu immediately took over.
But months of persistent demands for compliance with the judgement seem to be gradually paying off, as Mr Adodo reported to the court on Monday that the case file, long missing, had been found.
Mr Adodo informed the court that there had been progress in the efforts to recover the missing case file.
“They have found the casefile,” the lawyer said.
According to him, the respondents released the file about two weeks ago to enable his legal team to make photocopies. He said he later returned the original copies along with the photocopies to the police for stamping.
“I don’t know what is holding them. The only thing they need to do is just to certify it,” he said, adding that no further action had been taken since then.:
Responding, the judge said, “At least something is happening.”
Two lawyers, Comfort Olowomoran and Mariam Kadir, were in court on Monday to monitor the proceedings on behalf of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
But the police were not represented by any lawyer.
Backstory: Nine-year quest for justice
Mr Anozie, whose wife instituted the suit, has not been seen by his family members since his abduction in Lagos by police officers attached to the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) more than nine years ago. The SARS operatives travelled from their base in Awkuzu, Anambra State, to abduct Mr Anozie in Lagos in June 2017.
Since then, his spouse, Mrs Anozie, has doggedly made the rounds of courts and the #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry, which opened in 2020, seeking answers to questions about her husband’s disappearance.
She had petitioned the NHRC in 2020 over her husband’s disappearance.
The commission referred the matter to the Abuja #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry, but the case was declared inconclusive after the police repeatedly ignored summonses and failed to produce the officers accused of involvement in Mr Anozie’s abduction and the case file.
PREMIUM TIMES, in a detailed report on the case, chronicled a long history of police disobedience to court orders regarding Mr Anozie’s disappearance and Mrs Anozie’s ordeal since his abduction.
The officers implicated in the case are Anthony Obiozor Ikechukwu, an assistant superintendent of police; Uzochukwu Emeana, a sergeant; John Eze, also known as T Boy; Oriole; and Sunday Okpe, a superintendent of police. Some of them were said to have retired from the police.
In her quest for justice, Mrs Anozie has obtained a series of rulings from different judges ordering her missing husband to be produced and the police officers implicated in his disappearance to be held accountable.
The latest in the series of court orders was issued by Mrs Nyako in September 2025, during the tenure of former IGP Egbetokun, directing the IGP to produce the indicted officers and multiple case files connected with the matter.
The court also awarded N2 million in favour of Mrs Anozie.
However, the police authorities failed to comply with the judgement. This prompted Mrs Anozie to initiate the contempt proceedings in December 2025, about three months after the judgement was delivered, seeking to have the then-IGP jailed for allegedly disobeying the court’s order.
Slow-paced contempt suit hearing
When the contempt application came up before Mrs Nyako on 18 February, the judge warned that she could order the Chief of Army Staff to arrest the then-IGP Egbetokun over his alleged disobedience of the court’s judgment.
To avert such a situation, the judge offered Mr Egbetokun an opportunity for an amicable resolution to ensure compliance with the judgement.
After the warning, she adjourned the case until 23 April.
However, the 23 April proceedings stalled after it was observed that the motion was addressed to Mr Egbetokun instead of the new IGP Tunde Disu, who had at the time taken over the reins of police leadership.
Judge considers handing over case
Before Mr Adodo gave the update on the case file on Monday, Judge Nyako said she was considering transferring the contempt case to another judge for determination.
“I have been thinking about this matter, and I am of the opinion that I should send this case to one of my brother judges to take the contempt proceedings,” Mrs Nyako said in the middle of Monday’s proceedings. “I feel I have been so involved in the matter.”
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Mr Adodo told the court that his client was comfortable with her continuing to hear the matter.
Responding, Mrs Nyako affirmed Mrs Anozie’s positive disposition towards her handling of the proceedings.
Yet, she decided to take one week to decide whether to continue with the contempt proceedings or hand over the case to another judge.
She adjourned the case until 24 July to decide whether to transfer the case to another judge.
Mr Egbetokun resigned from office in late February at President Bola Tinubu’s request, paving the way for Mr Disu to succeed him.
In April, Mr Disu pledged to end police impunity, declaring: “We are presently putting a lot together to ensure that this administration, moving forward, ends impunity in our nation.”
He also promised “a more professional and more accountable police force in Nigeria.”
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