A DISMISSED police inspector in Edo State, Edith Uduma, has threatened to end her life and those of her children, claiming her dismissal from the Nigeria Police Force was unjust and orchestrated to silence her after exposing an alleged rape incident involving a colleague.
Uduma, speaking in an interview with Punch Metro, denied accusations of extortion leveled against her and alleged that the Edo State Police Command dismissed her without granting her a fair hearing.
She alleged that she was sack from the Force because she had no one to help her. She accused the Edo State Police Command of twisting the facts of the case.
The ICIR reports that Uduma’s dismissal followed an incident involving Abraham Ozobor, a sergeant, and a female detainee, who was allegedly raped by the police officer.
In a viral video, the officer was seen hastily putting on his trousers while questioning why Uduma was filming, but the video of the incident would not come out until a few weeks later.
Both Uduma and Abraham were subsequently dismissed from the Force after investigations, with Uduma claiming that her dismissal was orchestrated to silence her after exposing an alleged rape incident involving a colleague.
Meanwhile, in an earlier statement, the Edo State Police Command had dismissed these claims, asserting that Uduma and her husband, Ibrahim Mohammed, an Inspector, were penalised following an orderly room trial.
The command stated that Uduma, as the charge room officer, failed to follow proper procedures when she allegedly caught Abraham Uzuobor raping a 17-year-old female suspect in custody.
Instead of reporting the incident to the dvisional police officer (DPO) or incident duty officer, the police alleged that Uduma conspired with her husband to demand N1 million from the accused sergeant in exchange for concealing the act.
The demand reportedly escalated when the sergeant only paid ₦45,000, leading Uduma to post a video of the incident online.
She explained that while the Force Headquarters in Abuja was still investigating the matter, the Edo command hastily dismissed her, raising questions about the motives behind the decision.
Uduma also expressed concerns about her detained husband and the implications of her dismissal for her children, whom she says she had not seen in months due to the ordeal.
“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,” Udoma was quoted to have said.
Uduma further explained that she had been in hiding since the dismissal and had not seen her children for a long time due to the fallout.
She further alleged that the DPO at her station instructed her to ask the accused sergeant for N1 million to negotiate the case.
According to her, the request was a tactic to lure the suspect out of hiding, but the DPO and other officers allegedly turned the situation against her.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M