A Beninoise Woman Accuses Lagos DPO of Rape

A 31-year-old cook, Idowu Akinwunmi, has narrated how the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Onikan Station, SP Adekunle Awe, allegedly raped, extorted and threatened her life. The victim told PUNCH Metro that the incident occurred on April 15, 2014. She explained that  on April 14 she was arrested by the police for “spurious” reasons. She 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.” Akinwunmi said around 1am, her boss, who discovered that someone was sleeping over, called the police to arrest her and Friday. She said two other people, who slept over at the tailors’ quarters were also rounded up. She said, “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 victim said a few hours later, she felt sticky and pleaded with a policewoman on duty to allow her have a bath. She said she could not use the shower because it was too filthy, adding that on her way out, she met the DPO for the first time. She said, “I met the DPO along the corridor. He asked me what happened and I explained everything to him… continued