Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar has given orders for the investigation of a Divisional Police Officer in Lagos believed to have raped a female detainee.
The rape was brought to Abubakar’s notice by a petition from the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) to the Police Service Commission, alleging that DPO Adekunle Awe of the Onikan Police Station raped 31-year-old detainee, Miss Idowu Akinwunmi.
In her complaint to NOPRIN on Wednesday, Akinwunmi had alleged that she was raped by Awe in his office the previous day.
“She was detained in the cell; and at about 10p.m., one Inspector Ajiduwe brought her to the office of the DPO where the DPO raped her. She said that the DPO forcefully had carnal knowledge of her without protection in his office,” NOPRIN said.
“The DPO threatened to send Ms. Akinwunmi to prison if she mentioned the rape to anyone. It is shocking that a high ranking police officer of the position of a DPO could descend to such low level of raping a female suspect in his custody”.
It demanded a “prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation” of the allegations to ascertain the truth and bring the DPO to account if found guilty, adding that the Policeman in question was involved in at least four muffled cases of rape during his time at Zone 2 headquarters and elsewhere.
The investigative panel constituted by the IGP comprises three senior police officers from the Lagos State Command’s X- Squad, the Human rights Section, and the Office of the Public Relations Officer, respectively.
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