How DPO raped me in detention - Sales girl narrates her ordeal

A mother of two identified as Idowu Akinwunmi
has accused a Divisional Police Officer in Lagos
Island, SP Adekunle Awe, of raping her on
Wednesday April 15th while in police custody
after she was arrested by men of the Onikan
Police station, Punch reports.
According to Idowu, she was arrested on
Tuesday 14th April after her boss, Ms
Idowu Pelumi had laid a complaint at the police
station accusing her of bringing a male friend to
her restaurant to pass the night. Narrating her
story, Akinwunmi said;
"I work at an eatery on Keffi Street,
Obalende, as a cook. The eatery also has a
tailor's shop in the compound and it
belongs to the same person. There is also a
quarters where we all live in the compound.
Most of the workers are from Cotonou,
Benin Republic. On Monday, a popular
customer, known as Friday, came to eat. He
later left, but some moments later, he
returned to say he could not get a bus
home. Friday had been making advances at
me, but we were not a couple. I allowed
him to sleep over."
When her boss found out that Friday had slept
at her restaurant, she got the police to arrest
both Idowu and Friday. And that was where her
nightmare began. Dear Lagos State police
commissioner, hope you will look into this
matter. Continue...
"My madam called policemen to arrest all of
us. I had only a pair of shorts, a shirt and a
wrapper on. I had N11, 000 in my pocket
and my phone was not with me. On getting
to the station, I got the phone of a
policewoman and used it to call one of the
tailors to come and help. In the morning of
Tuesday, two tailors, Ben and Matthias,
arrived to bail out their friends, but they
were also arrested, bringing our total
number to six."
The following day which was April 15th, she ran
into the DPO of the police station after using the
bathroom. DPO Awe asked her why she was
arrested and after narrating what happened,
Idowu claims he then invited her to his
office...and had sex with her without using a
condom
"Around 10pm on Tuesday, the DPO sent a
policeman to call Friday and I. I was
wearing boxers and a top. I stayed at the
counter and Friday went in to see the DPO.
A few minutes later, Friday came out and
the DPO called me in. The DPO said he
could make sure that I spent the rest of my
life in jail, but I begged him. He then came
close to me and started rubbing his hands
all over my body but I rejected his
advances. He said my boss had told him
that he could do whatever he wanted to do
with me. He said since I was from Benin
Republic, if he killed me, nothing would
happen. He said he would also make sure
that the remaining five suspects would be
sent to prison. At this point, the DPO had
already taken off his clothes. Since I was
afraid for my life, I allowed the DPO to have
his way. I begged him to use a condom, but
he refused. He pushed me to a smaller
room in his office and put me on the bed
and had sex with me. Immediately after he
had finished, he told me to shower in a
bathroom inside his office." she said.
She said the next morning while she was about
to leave, the DPO asked for her number but she
refused to give it to him. She said the DPO
promised that with the sex she already offered,
she would not pay any bail but to her surprise,
N30,000 was collected from her.
As soon as she left the police station, she went
for a test at the Lagos Island Maternity clinic. A
copy of the medical report, signed by one Dr. R.
A. Seriki, stated,
"A complaint of sexual assault: General
clinical condition satisfactory; no laceration,
no bruises, no areas of hyperemia, negative
for HIV 1 and 2, pregnancy negative. Has
been placed on PEP and emergency
contraception".
Meanwhile the Network on Police Reform in
Nigeria has petitioned the National Human
Rights Commission over the alleged rape of
Akinwunmi. Mr. Okechukwu Nwagunma who is
the Co-coordinator of NOPRIN says they would
follow the case to its logical conclusion with the
view of getting Akinwunmi the justice she
deserves. The case has now been forwarded to
the office of the Commissioner for Police, Umar
Tanko, who had a meeting with the accused DPO
and Akinwunmi yesterday.