The Directorate of Citizens Rights (DCR) in the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Damilola Adeparusi ( popularly known as Chef Dammy) against her pastor, Jeremiah Adegoke, and the state police command for alleged infringement of the chef’s rights.
The DCR also demanded N10 million for damages on behalf of the chef who is a 300-level Mass Communication student of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti.
The DCR further sought a restraining order to prevent Adegoke and the police from re-arresting Chef Dammy.
This came barely a week after Chef Dammy was reportedly arrested on the order of Adegoke.
The controversy between Chef Dammy and her pastor came to light in October after the 24-year-old chef raised an alarm over alleged relentless threats and intimidation from individuals whom she tagged “people of God” and her pastor.
She had alleged being threatened and bullied by Adegoke.
In a letter signed by his lawyers, Bisayo Sule & Co Legal Practitioners, and dated 23rd October 2023, Adegoke demanded a retraction of the alleged defamatory statement on social media, an apology in two widely-read national dailies and payment of a N22 million for damages following Chef Dammy’s public outcry.
The Ekiti-born chef was given seven days to comply with the demands or risk being sued.
However, in the suit filed by DCR on 24th November, Chef Dammy was named as the applicant while Adegoke and Ajewole Samuel, the State Commissioner of Police, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 17 Akure, were named respondents.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the continued harassment, molestation, threat of arrest, and intimidation by the pastor, and the Nigerian police, infringes on the applicant’s fundamental human rights.
Chef Dammy rose to fame after her unsuccessful cook-a-thon challenge to break the Guinness World Record in June.
