Popular Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh and her bodyguard, one Gbenga, have been summoned by the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Wuse Zone 6, for an allegation of assault and trespass.
The suit, with case number CR/359/2024, was reportedly filed by Elvis Abuyere, the Chief Executive of Skyewise Group Limited, the owner of an Abuja-based car dealership company.
Iyanna ordered the two defendants to appear before the court on August 24, 2024, to answer the charges against them. The court summons obtained by the press on Friday was filed on August 6, 2024.
In the suit, the car dealer alleged that Tonto visited the car company in January to purchase a brand new Changan Uni-K 2023 model from Mikano Motors.
According to the complainant, Tonto had purchased a Mikano car worth N85 from his company with the agreement that he would pay the amount in instalments within three months of receiving the car; according to him, the car dealer had paid the said amount to Mikano, with Tonto agreeing to pay back the first instalment.
He explained that Tonto Dik had initially paid N37 million using her 2008/2009 Lexus. An additional N3.5 million was also paid, but she failed to pay the balance at the end of April as agreed, breaching the agreement.
The argument started On May 1, when Abuyere retrieved the car from Dikeh after several efforts to get her to pay the balance failed after the retrieval; Tonto Dike paid N20 million, N17 million, and N5 million, with an outstanding balance of N2.1 million.
The actress contacted the company On July 30 for the servicing of her car after the car was serviced and maintained the company demand for the outstanding balance of N2.7 million. After the demand, the actress forcefully entered the company’s premises in Maitama Abuja with a crew, including her bodyguard and two other unidentified ladies with a criminal trespass.
After the tress Dike and her crew assaulted different staff of the company, according to the complainant, the four individuals who invaded the company damaged properties and threatened to use social media to damage the business of the car dealer. After a series of fight disruptions, the police intervened and got all the individuals arrested.
Earlier on Friday, Tonto Dike was invited by the inspector-general of the Police Monitoring Unit of the Nigeria Police Force to the headquarters in Abuja for allegations of criminal defamation, cyberbullying, and forgery, among other charges against her.
The letter signed by the Head of the IGP Monitoring Unit, A.A. Elleman, stated that the actress’s name was dominant in the unit’s investigations of several crimes.
Reacting to the invitation on Friday through her social media handle, Tonto noted that no law enforcement agency in the country had arrested anyone for any crime; she further noted that nobody had jailed her, and she elaborated that she was at home having a good time without the good God had given her.
She emphasised that as an abiding citizen of the country, she would not get involved in any crime; she bragged that the police in Nigeran had never issued a warrant of search or arrest on her before.
She established that she has always honoured all invitations by the police, which has always helped the law enforcement agency in conducting their investigations and providing clarifications on issues; she further threatened to use the law enforcement agency against any individual who spread fake information about her or exhibit any form of deformation against her name brand.
Social media has criticised the actress for her actions, calling on authorities to ensure justice is served; popular social media influencer Verydarkman noted that it was clearly wrong for the actress to attack the car dealer after withholding his money.
