Ekiti sues Chef Dammy's pastor Jeremiah, state police command over arrest

For alleged rights violations, Damilola Adeparusi, also known as Chef Dammy, has filed a lawsuit against her pastor, Jeremiah Adegoke, and the state police command through the Directorate of Citizens Rights in the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice.

On behalf of the chef, a 300-level Mass Communication student at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, the DCR also sought N10 million in damages.

In addition, the DCR requested a restraining order to stop Adegoke and the police from detaining Chef Dammy once more.

This occurred just a week after Chef Dammy was purportedly detained on Adegoke's orders.

The 24-year-old chef raised the alarm in October about what she perceived to be constant threats and intimidation from people she labelled as "people of God" and her pastor, which led to the controversy between Chef Dammy and her pastor.

She had claimed that Adegoke had intimidated and harassed her.

In the meantime, Adegoke demanded—in response to Chef Dammy's public outcry—the withdrawal of the alleged defamatory statement on social media, an apology in two widely read national dailies, and payment of N22 million in damages in a letter signed by his attorneys, Bisayo Sule & Co Legal Practitioners, dated October 23, 2023.

The chef, who was born in Ekiti, was given seven days to abide by the instructions or face legal action.

However, Adegoke and Ajewole Samuel, the State Commissioner of Police, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 17 Akure, were named respondents in the lawsuit filed by DCR on November 24. Chef Dammy was named as the applicant in that suit.

The lawsuit requests a ruling that the applicant's fundamental human rights are violated by the pastor's and the Nigerian police's ongoing harassment, molestation, threats of arrest, and intimidation.

Chef Dammy gained notoriety in June following her abortive attempt to break the Guinness World Record through a cook-a-thon.

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