The Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Ogudu Police Station in Lagos State, Owolabi Akinlolu, who was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in his office at the Ogudu Police Division, was allegedly retired from service in secrecy before his case was brought to court on Tuesday.

This falls short of the expectations of rights activists, the traumatised survivor, and her family, who had anticipated that the suspect would be dismissed from service and prosecuted upon the completion of the investigation.

PUNCH Metro reported in July 2024 that the survivor’s mother, Mrs Aramide Olupona, accused the police of attempting to cover up the case, claiming that the suspect’s wife and family had pleaded with her to drop the charges, claiming Akinlolu was due to retire in December.

Sources familiar with the investigation accused the Nigeria Police Force of deliberately prolonging both the probe and the suspect’s arraignment until after his scheduled retirement in December 2024, allegedly to grant him a soft landing.

Akinlolu had allegedly summoned the teenager to his office on June 29, 2024, claiming that the suspect who had stolen her phone two weeks earlier had been apprehended. However, upon her arrival at the police station, the senior officer allegedly locked his office door and raped her.

In an interview with PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, an insider familiar with the investigation claimed that the police “deliberately allowed him to retire from service before initiating his prosecution.”

The source further revealed that the suspect was not dismissed from the force, stating that the officers handling the case in Lagos argued that “it was beyond the state command’s jurisdiction since the suspect was a senior police officer.”
He said, “They transferred the case to the Force headquarters in Abuja. It was Abuja that gave them directives on the investigation. Now, they are saying the completion of the investigation did not come before December. They are claiming it came after December,” the insider added.

A survivor’s family member (name withheld) made a similar accusation before Magistrate O.O. Fagboun ordered the suspect’s remand at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, PUNCH Metro observed that, unlike Police Inspector Dikko Usman, a suspect in the murder of Lagos Chief Jubril Fatai, who was referred to as an “ex-inspector” in the case, Akinlolu was neither identified by his DSP rank nor described as a former police officer.

Another credible source privy to the matter but who did not want to be mentioned for fear of retribution stated that the suspect allegedly pointed a gun at the survivor’s head before committing the crime, accusing the police of not mentioning it in the charges

https://punchng.com/how-police-retired-officer-accused-of-raping-teenager-inside-lagos-station/