Human rights activist, Comrade Olusola Onagunwa, has accused the Ogun State Police Command of orchestrating a campaign of persecution against him, culminating in what he described as “fabricated charges” that were struck out by a Sagamu Magistrate Court on Friday, August 15, 2025.
Onagunwa, a former Lagos State Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and National President of the Advocates in Defence of Human Rights, Justice and Culture (ADHURIC), relocated the group’s headquarters to Sagamu in 2022. Since then, he has led campaigns against police extortion, unlawful activities of transport unions, abuse of tenancy laws, and sexual violence in Ogun State.
His activism, he said, has pitched him against powerful interests, including traditional rulers, transport unions, landlords, and particularly the police. According to him, “numerous petitions” submitted to higher police authorities against alleged misconduct by officers, including extortion, malicious prosecution, and threats to life, have been ignored, emboldening impunity within the command.
Onagunwa cited past threats, physical assaults, and alleged attempts on his life by police officers, including an incident where a gun allegedly failed to discharge during an altercation with him, and another where he narrowly escaped a vehicular accident shortly after receiving death threats.
The most recent case, he said, involved an alleged plot to frame him through a female acquaintance. Police reportedly altered accusations against him multiple times—from claims of impregnating the woman, to rape, to abduction, and eventually to “unlawful assault of an imbecile.”
He was arraigned under Suit No. MSH/405c/2025 before the Chief Magistrate of Sagamu Magistrate Court on Friday. However, the court struck out the charges, describing them as unfounded.
Following the dismissal, Onagunwa alleged that police officers attempted to re-arrest him within the court premises. He claimed he was physically assaulted, dragged, and had his clothes torn in the process, leaving him half-naked before bystanders. His lawyer, Comrade Umoru T.I. Esq, reportedly resisted the attempted arrest, prompting the Chief Magistrate to intervene and order police officers out of the premises.
In a message sent after the court session to senior lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, and others, Onagunwa appealed for urgent intervention, alleging that officers of the Ogun State Police Command were “laying an ambush” to re-arrest him despite the court’s ruling.
He urged the Ogun State Commissioner of Police and higher authorities to halt what he described as “persistent persecution” by the police command.
