The Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria, NOPRIN, has condemned the promotion of Adekunle Awe, a Superintendent of Police and former Divisional Police Officer of Onikan Police Division in Lagos State, who allegedly raped a 31-year-old female detainee in his custody on April 15, 2014.
National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said rather than be reprimanded for incident, Awe appeared to have been congratulated, as he is presently the second-in-commander of Area C Police Command, Surulere, Lagos.
The victim, Miss. Akinwunmi, had accused the DPO of rape while she was in his custody.
According to Akinwunmi, Awe raped her at about 10pm on the day she was arrested.
Akinwunmi said: “He said I should wash, but I said no. He started shouting at me, saying he would make sure I and my brothers go to jail.
“I went into his toilet. There was a bucket filled with water. The water contained Dettol. I used it to wash.”
The then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, ordered the Lagos State Police Command to set up a panel to look into the rape allegation.
Nothing has been heard about the case since then.
Nwanguma, who revealed the latest on Awe, while addressing journalists on ‘Police Brutality and Abuse Persist,’ said: “As you are aware, NOPRIN has been in the fore front of the campaign for justice in this case, to ensure that it was not swept under the carpet.
“We recalled that the then PRO, Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, who was a member of the investigation team at the Lagos State Command, had told journalists about two weeks after the incident that the outcome of police investigation would be made public through a press conference.
“Today, nearly 12 months after the incident was exposed by NOPRIN through the media, and contrary to promises by police authorities of impartial and transparent investigation, the police are yet to make public the outcome of their investigation which traversed three levels from Lagos State Police Command, through Zone 2 to the Force Headquarters.”
Nwanguma said that at intervals, NOPRIN continued to raise the alarm over fears that the police were deliberately delaying and prolonging investigation as a machination to wear out public patience. “The police want to sweep the matter under the carpet once public interest subsided and public attention shifted,” he said.
“The police are under a moral burden to convince us that this is not what has happened eventually. Today, we are yet to know the outcome of police investigations in this case.
“But we know that the suspected culprit, former DPO, Adekunle Awe, is still serving in Lagos State Command and walking free while his victim has been left to lick her psychological and physical wounds.
“She has received no justice, despite losing her job, dignity and reputation in the aftermath of the violent sexual abuse she suffered,” the group said.
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