A relative of the 17-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by a police officer at the Ogudu Area H Command, identified only as Anderson, has accused the suspect’s family of pressuring the survivor’s mother, Aramida Olupona, to forgive the accused officer.
Anderson revealed this information to our correspondent during a phone interview on Saturday.
Recall that during a telephone interview with City Round on Friday, the mother of the teenager, Olupona, said, “Officer Owolabi is supposed to have been charged to court by now, what are they waiting for? What are they covering up?
“Now, it’s more than a week and there has been silence from the police. We have not heard from them since then. We want more than a query given to this officer, the police need to be transparent and hold one of their own accountable for his actions.
They said they are conducting an investigation, what has come out of it? They are trying to shield the officer, but Nigerians are waiting. In fact, the whole of Africa and the rest of the world are waiting for the next step that the police will take.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, on Friday, also said the command was awaiting the medical report of the test conducted on the minor.
“The accused policeman is currently under detention. We are waiting for the medical report; a medical report in an alleged case of rape is very vital; it is a determinant factor and that is what we are waiting for. But the policeman has been issued a query,” Fayoade said.
This, however, contradicts a text message received by our correspondent after inquiring about the progress of the police investigation.
In response to our correspondent’s inquiry on Thursday, the spokesperson for the command shared a link to a publication by The PUNCH, revealing that the police had received the medical report.
According to the report, Hundeyin said the medical examination had been concluded and handed over to the police for onward investigation.
“The test result. It has been handed over to the police and the investigation has continued,” Hundeyin had said.
Though the findings of the medical reports were not disclosed, Hundeyin added, “There will be another update in no distant time.”
While lamenting that the police were trying to sweep the matter under the rug, Anderson, a close family relative of the victim, said Olupona, the minor’s mother, had been subjected to intense pressure from the family members of the accused police officer.
According to him, Olupona’s son (name withheld), who revealed the incident on social media, had been advised to stay away from the area due to fears of being harmed after the alleged crime went viral.
“The police officer and his colleague frequented the minor’s mother’s shop. We never knew that he had such an intention against our daughter. The officer lives inside the police barracks in the area while the survivor, her brother and mother have a shop just outside the police barracks.
“We have begged her (survivor’s mother) to stay away from the shop for the time being. But she insisted that she would not leave her means of livelihood for anything. The brother who made the incident go viral has also been instructed to leave the town for his security.
“Now, the family members of the police officer have been going to her shop to beg. I already told her that she should leave the shop if she can no longer handle the pressure.”
The accused officer allegedly raped the teenager when she went to the station to report a stolen phone. To this day, the command has failed to officially reveal the officer’s identity.
Credit: Punch