An Abuja resident has accused men identifying themselves as officers attached to the Force Intelligence Investigation Department (FIID) of entering her home, searching the premises and taking her husband, Francis Emeka Achieke, into custody.
The incident reportedly occurred on the morning of Thursday, October 22, 2026, when several men arrived at the family’s residence and said they were looking for Achieke in connection with alleged drug-related matters.
According to his wife, the men were not wearing official police uniforms. She said they introduced themselves as police officers but declined to provide her with her husband’s name or further details about the reason for their visit when she requested clarification.
In an account provided to Spear News Nigeria, Achieke’s wife said she became suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the visit because of what she described as a similar incident involving a family friend in Lifecamp approximately two weeks earlier.
“I heard our door ring and I went down to check because my husband was still sleeping. When I opened the door, I saw some men who introduced themselves as Nigerian police officers but were not in official uniforms. They said they were looking for my husband for drug-related issues,” she recounted.
She said she asked the men to identify the person they were looking for but that they declined to provide a name, instead asking her to call her husband or allow them into the residence.
According to her, she refused to admit the men and went back inside to wake her husband.
She further alleged that the earlier incident involving their family friend followed a similar approach, with the officers reportedly identifying themselves as personnel from the Zone 3 office. She named an individual, Adeneye Awaiye, as the person she understood to have led that operation.
The wife claimed that the earlier incident left the family friend’s household traumatised, particularly because his wife had reportedly given birth to a baby who was barely two weeks old at the time.
However, Spear News Nigeria has not independently established the full circumstances of that earlier incident or confirmed whether it involved the same officers or police unit.
Recounting what happened after she woke her husband, Achieke’s wife said he immediately contacted his lawyer to report that men claiming to be police officers were at the residence but had not clearly identified the person they intended to arrest or question.
According to her, the lawyer advised her husband to meet the men.
She alleged that as she proceeded towards the entrance, with her husband getting dressed to join her, the situation escalated when she opened the door.
“Immediately I opened the door, one of them said, ‘Pin her down.’ It was as though someone was trying to escape. Then I saw several others, including a woman, coming out from nowhere. They entered my house and started searching without a warrant,” she said.
Achieke’s wife alleged that the officers entered the residence and searched different parts of the house without presenting a search warrant to her.
She also claimed that she had secretly recorded some of the conversations during the encounter using her mobile phone.
According to her account, the officers seized her phones, accessed the devices and deleted the recordings. She further alleged that a female officer present during the operation instructed others to check the recently deleted folders on the devices and permanently remove the recordings.
These allegations have not been independently verified by Spear News Nigeria. The newspaper has not examined the devices or obtained forensic evidence establishing whether recordings were made, accessed or deleted.
The wife said the officers eventually left the residence with her husband and his mobile phones. She alleged that they told her they intended to examine his phones at their office.
She added that she subsequently contacted the office of the FCT Police Public Relations Officer to report the incident.
The account raises questions about the identity of the officers involved, the legal basis for the reported entry and search, the seizure of mobile devices and the alleged deletion of recordings that could potentially be relevant to establishing what occurred.
Under Sections 58 and 59 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, the law establishes requirements governing search warrants and their execution. These include provisions concerning the contents of a warrant and the identification of officers conducting a search, as well as requirements relating to the production and provision of copies of warrants when applicable.
Nevertheless, determining whether the reported operation breached any law requires further information about the officers’ authority, the purpose of the operation and the legal grounds, if any, on which entry, search and seizure were carried out. The family’s allegation that no warrant was presented does not, on its own, establish the full legal position.
A lawyer who spoke to Spear News Nigeria and said she witnessed aspects of the incident expressed concern about the circumstances described by the family.
The lawyer said the incident could raise questions about possible profiling but cautioned that any conclusion would depend on the facts and evidence available.
She maintained that allegations linking a person to drug-related offences should be examined through lawful investigative procedures and that the existence of a suspicion does not, by itself, resolve whether the manner in which a search or arrest was conducted was lawful.
The lawyer also advised the family to consider legal remedies after the immediate situation had been resolved, particularly if the authorities could not establish a lawful basis for the actions alleged.
Any decision to pursue legal action would ultimately depend on the evidence, the applicable law and the advice of the family’s legal representatives.
As of the time the information was provided to Spear News Nigeria, Achieke was reportedly at the FIID office opposite the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in Abuja.
The family identified one of the officers allegedly involved as SP Bright. However, the officer’s full name, official rank, unit and specific role in the operation have not been independently confirmed.
The reason for Achieke’s reported arrest, whether he has been formally detained, the allegations against him and whether he has been questioned or charged remain unclear from the information available to the newspaper.
The FCT Police Command is headed by Commissioner of Police Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi. However, there is no independently verified evidence presently establishing whether the commissioner was aware of, authorised or supervised the operation described by Achieke’s wife. It would therefore be premature to attribute responsibility for the specific incident to the commissioner or the wider command without further evidence.
Spear News Nigeria has not independently verified the officers’ account of the operation or obtained an official explanation from the relevant police authorities regarding the reported entry, search and seizure.
The FCT Police Command and FIID authorities have an opportunity to clarify the purpose of the operation, the legal grounds for Achieke’s arrest, the circumstances surrounding the search of his residence and the reported seizure of mobile phones.
Their responses will be important in establishing whether the officers acted within their lawful powers and in determining the circumstances that led to the incident.
Spear News Nigeria will continue to follow the development and update this report as further verifiable information becomes available.
The newspaper maintains that allegations of misconduct must be investigated fairly, while law enforcement agencies must be allowed to explain their actions. Equally, any person taken into police custody is entitled to the protections provided by law, and any allegations against that person must be established through appropriate legal procedures.
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