A former police officer in Edo State, Inspector Edith Uduma, has threatened to kill herself and her children following her dismissal from the police force after she exposed an alleged rape incident involving a colleague.
She accused the state police command of unjustly dismissing her, saying the public had not also heard her side of the story.
Uduma’s dismissal came after a viral video that she captured in October showed one Sergeant Abraham, another officer, in a compromising position with a 17-year-old girl at the police station in the South Ibie area of Edo State.
The officer was seen hurriedly wearing his trousers and querying why Edith was making a video recording. The girl was seen lying on a chair in the room in the course of this.
It was learnt from the police that both officers were later dismissed following an orderly room trial.
The Edo State Police Command, in a statement released in November by its Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, alleged that Uduma conspired with her husband, Inspector Ibrahim Mohammed, to extort N1m from Abraham to cover up the incident. When Abraham reportedly offered N45,000 instead, the video was leaked online, the police claimed.
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The command said, “That, contrary to reports from certain quarters, the said female police officer, AP/no 228719 Insp. Edith Uduma, was the Charge Room Officer on October 7, 2024, the night F/No. 504694 Sgt Abraham allegedly raped a female suspect in the station.
“The female officer, instead of reporting the incident to the Divisional Police Officer or the Incident Duty Officer as the case may be, for disciplinary actions to be initiated against the erring officer, took advantage of the situation to enrich herself by calling her husband, AP No. 228652 Insp. Ibrahim Mohammed, whom she conspired with to unlawfully demand the sum of N1m from the sergeant to assist him in concealing the matter.
“Following these events, an orderly room trial was initiated against all the officers, which led to the dismissal of Sgt. Abraham and Insp Edith Uduma.”
Uduma’s husband was also demoted to the rank of Sergeant.
However, Uduma denied the allegations in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Saturday, insisting she never extorted money and that she was not given a fair hearing. She alleged that her dismissal was orchestrated because she lacked influential connections.
Uduma who threatened to kill herself if she didn’t get justice said, “What the Edo Command is saying is not what happened. They know I have no rank or support to fight back,” Uduma said.
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She further revealed that the Force Headquarters in Abuja was still investigating the matter only for the Edo command to hurriedly dismiss her.
“I want justice. My dismissal is unjust,” she said tearfully.
She said her husband who was also sanctioned had no connection to the matter.
“He (my husband) used to bring something for me to eat. He brought food that time to the station.
“If Nigerians refuse to listen to me – because my husband has been in detention, and they have been looking for me to arrest me, to charge me to court – if Nigeria refuses to listen to me, I will just poison all my children and myself. I will die. Because I’m just stranded like this,” she said, noting she had been in hiding and had not seen her children in a long time due to the incident.
She alleged that the DPO at the station prompted her to ask Sergeant Ibrahim for the N1m for negotiation when the sergeant reportedly disappeared after the incident, noting that this was to lure the suspect to show up.
According to her, she is surprised how the DPO and other officers allegedly turned the matter against her.
“If the police force can do this to a police officer, how much more to the innocent and civilians?”
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The spokesperson for the Edo command, Moses Yamu, has not responded to calls and a text message put across to him on Sunday.
The then Divisional Police Officer of the station at the time the incident occurred, SP Lilian Osemwegie, has now retired.
A call was put across to a number said to be hers but a woman who responded after a question from our respondent, said, “Wrong number, wrong number.” PUNCH cannot immediately verify if the former DPO was the one on the call, but a police source insisted it was her number.
In a statement made available to our correspondent on Friday, a human rights group, Take It Back Movement, petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over what it described as the unjust dismissal of the female police officer and reduction in rank of her husband for reporting the alleged rape case.
The petition titled, “Petition For Review and Reinstatement, Unjust Dismissal From Nigeria Police Force” was released by the TIB Abuja branch and signed by the Federal Capital Territory Coordinator of the group, Robert Ande.
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“We humbly submit this petition to seek your intervention in the gross injustice perpetrated against Mrs Edith Uduma and her husband (Mohamed Ibrahim) with Force No.: AP/NO 228652 by the Edo State Police Command.
“Her dismissal from the Nigeria Police Force and the deduction of the rank of her husband from (Inspector to CPL) was unjust, and we request a thorough review of her case,” the petition read in part.
“Instead of commending her actions, she was dismissed, and her husband, Inspector Ibrahim Muhammad, was arrested and detained,” the group added, adding that the command’s action was capable of “hindering investigations and protecting the perpetrator of the rape.”
PUNCH