OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR
ON MY BIRTHDAY, I AM EFFECTIVELY CONFINED IN DARKNESS, WITHOUT WATER, FOOD OR DIGNITY, DESPITE A FEDERAL HIGH COURT ORDER
Seven days after EFCC operatives invaded my home, I remain isolated at Plot 4022, Guzape, without water, electricity, cooking gas or proper access to food, even after the Federal High Court ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.
His Excellency
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR
President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House, Abuja.
Your Excellency,
Today, Sunday, 5 July 2026, is my birthday.
It should have been a day of prayer, gratitude, family and peace. Instead, I write as a Nigerian woman in fear, effectively confined inside my own home and left without the basic necessities required to live as a human being.
For seven days, since the invasion of my residence at Plot 4022, Guzape, Abuja, I have not remained in this house by choice. I have been left isolated and trapped inside it, without water, electricity or cooking gas.
I cannot prepare food. I cannot preserve food. I cannot maintain sanitation. I cannot live safely in darkness. I do not have the basic amenities required for normal life.
I am alone, frightened and vulnerable.
As a woman, I have also been subjected to the painful humiliation of being unable to attend properly to my most private personal and female hygiene needs. It is difficult and degrading to speak publicly about such matters, but the reality is that no woman should be forced into this condition inside her own home.
When EFCC operatives invaded my residence, members of my staff were brutalised and arrested. Their removal left me even more isolated and fearful. The people who ordinarily assisted with the running and safety of the household were taken away, while I was left behind without water, light, gas, food or peace.
Your Excellency, I am deeply afraid for my life.
I am not asking the EFCC to abandon any lawful investigation. I am asking that no investigation should become a weapon of punishment before conviction, or a means of breaking down a citizen before a court has heard and decided her case.
On Friday, 3 July 2026, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/151/2026, presided over by Honourable Justice J. O. Abdulmalik, the same Court and same learned Judge before whom related matters are pending, ordered the parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.
The matter was adjourned to 21 July 2026 for hearing.
The order, Motion on Notice and hearing notice were served on the EFCC and acknowledged as received.
Yet, despite the Court’s order, I remain in darkness. EFCC operatives remain at the property, while I remain cut off from water, electricity, cooking gas, food and the minimum conditions necessary for safety and human dignity.
Your Excellency, I am also being compelled to defend criminal proceedings under different case numbers and in different courts, including FHC/ABJ/CR/76/2025, FHC/ABJ/CR/77/2025 and CR/100/2025.
These cases arise from the same or substantially related allegations and transactions. I have been made to defend the same narrative repeatedly before different courts, under different case numbers.
I believe this multiplication of proceedings has been used to frustrate, exhaust and break me down through legal process before any court has found me guilty of any offence.
I have pleaded not guilty.
I have not been convicted by any court.
The existence of pending charges must not become a licence to treat me as though I have already been condemned. It must not become a reason to deny me water, food, electricity, safety, privacy, dignity and the ordinary conditions of life.
The law must not become an instrument through which a citizen is punished before proof, humiliated before judgment and broken before fair hearing.
I am not asking to be above the law.
I am asking that the law apply equally to me.
I respectfully appeal to Your Excellency to urgently ensure that:
1. The Federal High Court order of 3 July 2026 is respected by all parties;
2. Water, electricity and cooking gas are immediately restored at my residence;
3. I am not left alone and vulnerable in darkness without food, sanitation or basic security;
4. My vehicles, valuables and personal belongings taken from the residence are properly accounted for; and
5. No citizen is exhausted, deprived of dignity or treated as guilty merely because allegations remain pending before the courts.
Your Excellency, on my birthday, I ask for no celebration and no special favour.
I ask for water to wash.
I ask for light to see.
I ask for food to eat.
I ask for gas to cook.
I ask for safety to sleep.
I ask for the dignity to live as a woman and as a human being in my own home while the courts determine the matters before them.
I appeal to Nigerians, women’s groups, civil society organisations, faith leaders, lawyers and the media: please do not look away.
This is not only about me. It is about whether a court order means anything. It is about whether a woman can be left without the necessities of life in her own home before she has been convicted of any offence.
I still believe in Nigeria.
I still believe that institutions can be firm without being cruel. I still believe that anti-corruption agencies can investigate without humiliating citizens or disregarding the authority of the courts.
On this day of my birthday, I ask only for safety, dignity and the right to live.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Yours faithfully,
Rebecca Omokamo Godwin-Isaac
