DPO Rape Saga: Police Panel Makes Headway in Investigations

As the panel set up by the Lagos State Police Command continues to investigate the Onikan Divisional Police Officer (DPO), more facts have emerged in the DPO’s rape saga.

The panel, which was set up by the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, was tasked to investigate and find out the truth in the claims by one Ms. Idowu Akinwunmi, who was allegedly raped by the Onikan DPO, Adekunle Awe.
THISDAY yesterday gathered that to unravel the truth behind the allegations, the victim was put to some tests by the panel led by the human rights department of the state command.

At the sitting were the panel members which included the Officer in Charge of the Human Right Department in the state Police Command, Olu Falomo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP); Officer in Charge of X-Squad,  Kola Okunola, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP); Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of Administration, Mr. Felix Ogundeji; Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), in charge of Operations, Tunde Shobulo and the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide.

Some of the tests the victim was put through was by asking her to describe where the rape allegedly happened and according to police sources, she was able to accurately state the condition of the DPO's office.

The victim had described the office thus, "The office has an inner room and that was where he took me to. The room is painted cream colour. There was no bed-sheet on the bed and the mattress has green and white colours.
"After he had raped me, the place I later washed had a wash hand basin and paint bucket, which was filled with water and mixed with Dettol."

The state police spokesperson, DSP Ngozi Braide, also pledged that the command would get to the root of the matter since the allegations were too weighty to be swept under the carpet.
Meanwhile, the police had already withdrawn Awe’s service pistol, based on the charges of extortion, sexual assault, rape and illegal detention levelled against him.

THISDAY