A businesswoman, Mrs Tracyniter Nicholas Ohiri, has accused Minister of Works, David Umahi, of sexual harassment, intimidation unlawful detention and refusal to pay an alleged N304 million debt for campaign promotional materials she supplied, she said while speaking to journalists in the nation’s capital on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

Ohiri told reporters that her business dealings with Umahi began years ago when he ran for office before becoming Governor of Ebonyi State, claiming she was contracted to produce promotional and corporate gift items for his campaign after submitting several quotations and proposals. She said she financed the project with her personal savings and loans, including funds meant for her children’s school fees, after being encouraged to proceed without advance payment.

According to her, after the materials were produced and delivered to Umahi’s residence in Ebonyi State at her own expense, she was never reimbursed either for logistics or the value of the goods. Ohiri said she waited about one year and eight months before demanding payment of the initial N25.4 million, which she says has accumulated to around N304 million with interest.

Ohiri also alleged that each time she pressed for payment, the minister made personal advances toward her which she rejected, and that this led to hostility, threatening messages and attempts to intimidate her. She claimed one encounter involved Umahi entering her hotel room wearing only a towel and making unwelcome advances during a business trip to Ebonyi.

She further alleged that after she threatened to protest at the Government House in Ebonyi over her unpaid debt, she received warnings against her planned action. Ohiri says that following a social media outcry and the death of her father – whom she hoped to send abroad for treatment – security operatives arrested her at her Lagos residence and brought her to Abuja.

Human rights activists led by Omoyele Sowore have expressed solidarity with Ohiri and protested outside the court where she was arraigned in Magistrate Court Zone 2 Abuja after a confrontation between Sowore and Umahi at the FCT Police Command headquarters. Sowore has accused the minister of using law enforcement to intimidate Ohiri in a longstanding civil dispute over the debt.

Umahi has denied the allegations, with his media aides describing the claims as inconsistent, contradictory and lacking clarity, and saying the Nigeria Police Force acted on a petition from the minister’s lawyer under its mandate rather than on any personal instruction from him.