Man allegedly brutalises sister over family inheritance. Their dad was a Nigerian police chief.
A Nigerian woman, Magna Faith, has called for justice and accused her brother, Justman Jonathan Johnson Jr, of injuries-inflicting assault.
Justman resorted to assault to forcefully demand documents of their father’s properties which had been in Faith’s custody before the man’s death, the woman alleged.
She said Justman forcefully broke into her apartment and attacked her, leaving her with head injuries. According to her, she filed a case at a police station in Abuja. The police invited Justman but he never honoured summon.
Faith further alleged that the police took no further action because Justman had bribed them and saw himself as one “above the law.”
The Realm News decided against publishing images of Faith's injuries because we deemed them too graphic.
An officer privy to the case, according to Sahara Reporters, said that the police don’t want the case to be escalated as the couple’s father, Jonathan Johnson, was a deputy inspector general (DIG) of police.
According to the unnamed police officer, senior police officers and commissioners had advised the divisional police officer (DPO) in charge of the case to shush the case as it was a family matter.
Faith alleged that the police were trying to cover up the case, particularly with the influence of Patrick Daboh Johnson, an assistant commissioner of police (ASP) who heads a budget division.
“The DCO stated outright that the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of budget called him and told him it’s a family matter, he’s sorry, he will not be able to continue that he doesn’t want me to fight a dead horse. They are all scared because he is in charge of their money,” she was quoted to have said.
“I want justice; who wants to drag their family members out there? I don’t want to get involved in such a thing but if I don’t do this, other women who don’t have a voice might suffer, I’m doing this because of women who don’t have anything, no resources, nothing.
“I have been living here in this house for the past four years; whenever I come back from the United States, this is where I stay. For a long time, my brother and my dad had a very strange relationship. Unfortunately, when my father died, my brother started asking for documents that I had in my possession. I’ve always been my dad’s administrator. I told him; let’s mourn dad, after this, we (six children) will sit and decide.
“My brother had once sold one of my dad’s properties in Maitama some years ago, which strained the relationship with my dad, and some public vehicles because of that, the documents were in my possession.
“I told him I don’t have a problem releasing the documents but we have to have a meeting to decide as family and I can give everything to him. My dad didn’t ask me to give it to him just because he’s a son, he’s the first child, I’m the second child, we are six so I can’t just pack everything and give to him.
“I wasn’t allowed to speak in Jalingo because I’m a woman, he got away with that; now I’m in Abuja, in my space, he broke the gate, the back door and attacked me, I’m startled, I dropped the kettle and the water splashed, he hit something on my head. Why will he come to attack me; are we fighting?
“The message I want to push is that just because I’m a woman that doesn’t give him the right to bully me. We need to change the narrative, just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice. I’m the legal resident of this house, he broke in.
“I went to the police station, I reported the case and wrote a statement, the police officers now went to him but he bribed them; they didn’t give themselves enough dignity to invite him to the station. Do you know he doesn’t have a statement? How can I go to the police station to make a complaint with my injuries and they didn’t get a statement from him?
“When they came back to the police station, they told me he said he was coming. They went back to the house the second time and he told them he was the son of a DIG and that he’s a lawyer that it is disrespectful that the police should invite him over. That’s the Nigeria we live in, that’s what we need to change.
“Even if I’m at fault, the police ought to respect the law and investigate the matter. How did I get injured and he didn’t? What made him break into the house? He doesn’t live here. Are all these things okay by the law? He refused to obey the law because he is above the law.
“My cousin, a senior police officer called them at the police station that they shouldn’t treat the case because it is a family matter. Does that mean that my allegations are null and void? Just because someone called, are we living in a zoo? I went to report with my injuries and they’re claiming; someone called. The person wasn’t even present at the time the issue happened.
“They’re trying to make sure he leaves the country so he doesn’t face the law. But what I’m saying is, every Nigerian citizen has a right to report a case at the police station and the case must be investigated, whether it is a family matter or not. Are they saying if he had killed me, it is still a family matter? That’s what I’m trying to change. Everyone has the right to be heard.”
