After weeks of waiting for the outcome of the police investigation into the alleged rape of a female suspect by the former Divisional Police Officer in charge of Onikan Police Station, Lagos State, Superintendent of Police Adekunle Awe, the news has filtered out that the investigation has been concluded.
According to a police source, the report has been handed over to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, while the case file had been handed over to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for further action.
The source said: “It’s DPP that will advice whether there was enough evidence and merit to be charged to court for trial.”
It would be recalled that some weeks back, a 31-year-old cook, Idowu Akinwunmi, had alleged that Awe raped her while she was in detention at the station.
The police had allegedly arrested her over “spurious” reasons on the orders of her boss.
Following the initial publication of the story, Awe was reportedly arrested while the Lagos State Police Command took over the investigation and then the case was transferred to Police Command, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, under Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mamman Tsafe.
Since the transfer to Zone 2, the case became cold.
But some civil rights organisations, with the Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria at the head, refused to sheathe the sword concerning the matter.
On Wednesday, it was gathered at a press briefing organized by NOPRIN, where police excesses were discussed, that Awe was finally granted bail last week Friday, after he had been demanding it for weeks.
Worried by the sudden silence since the case was transferred to Zone 2, the National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said: “NOPRIN found the sudden silence by the police over this case very worrisome and called on the Inspector General of Police to reassure Nigerians of his commitment to ensure that the case will not be swept under the carpet. NOPRIN is calling on the Nigeria Police to publicly disclose the outcome – or current status – of investigation into this case and to make a categorical statement reassuring Nigerians that truth and justice would be upheld in this case. There is enough evidence to charge the DPO to court.”
The National Human Rights Commission, which also had not relented in following and closely watching the unfolding drama, told Nwanguma that the case was now before the DPP.
A source at the NHRC said: “We gathered from Zone 2 Zonal CID department that the police are through with the investigation. The police said it had forwarded its findings to the IGP. The police said it had also written the DPP and that it was based on the advice of the DPP, on the facts discovered during investigation, that the next step would be known.”
Legal practitioner, Adeola Ilori, charged journalists not to relent in writing about the case, even as he noted that the fact that the clever DPO compelled the victim to take a bath after the rape was a militating factor in the matter.
Ilori said: “Having washed her, that evidence is gone! As far as the law in Nigeria is concerned, it’s through doctor’s report and show of physical struggle that rape can be proven.”
The lady, who is at the centre of the storm, said: “I want him to die! He disgraced me! I’m tired of everything because I have lost my job and I have two kids to cater for. How do I manage? I keep spending going to answer calls of the police. I’m broke! I’m not happy about the whole thing.”
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