Edith Uduma, the female police officer who was dismissed for reporting the rape of a minor by her male colleague at the Ibie Police station in Edo State, insists she’s done nothing wrong.
Edith said in a statement obtained by SaharaReporters that her only offence was reporting and filing the incident despite being instructed not to.
However, the Nigeria Police Force alleges that Edith took advantage of the situation to extort money from the accused officer, Sgt. Abraham, along with her husband, Insp. Ibrahim Mohammed.
As a result, Edith was dismissed, and her husband was demoted to the rank of Sergeant for his involvement in the alleged extortion.
She said on October 7, 2024, while serving as the Charge Room Officer (CRO) during night duty, one Sergeant Edith Uduma received a request from Sergeant Abraham Ozuobor for the cell key. She subsequently instructed Constable Moses Ogedengbe, the cell guard, to accompany Sergeant Abraham to retrieve the suspect from the cell.
She said, “I waited for more than 30 minutes without seeing Abraham, so I started looking for him. I went to his office but couldn’t see him there, so I started searching him from office to office.
“When I got to Admin Office, I saw that padlock of the Admin door was hanging but was not locked.
“I decided to push the door and noticed that someone was pushing from the inside. I overpowered him as I pushed harder and entered inside.
“I now saw that it was Abraham Ozuobor and he was half-naked. I also saw a female teenager that was arrested and kept for 4 days (for stealing a phone) sleeping unconsciously on a 3-seater chair so I decided to video them.”
Contrary to the allegations against her, Edith Uduma stated that she promptly reported the incident. She initially attempted to contact the Divisional Police Officer, but the call didn’t go through. Undeterred, she swiftly reached out to the station officer to inform them of the situation.
“I called my DPO immediately but her number was not connecting so I decided to reach out to the station officer (SO) which he came that night to the station,” she said.
According to her, her offence was filing the case when she was asked not to do so.
She said, “The S/O (Adamu Ishaku) ordered that I should return the girl to the cell which I did. He said I should hold on until when he got the DPO on phone as himself was not able to reach him that night.
“The DPO now promised that if Abraham is dismissed from work, she would make sure that I’m dismissed too. She ordered the immediate release of the teenage girl. She was released immediately to avoid the parent of the girl knowledge of what was happening,” she said.
Edith denied collecting money from Abraham or anyone else as alleged by the Nigerian police authorities.
The police authorities alleged that Edith Uduma neglected to report the minor’s rape case and instead sought a bribe to conceal the incident.
However, multiple witnesses have corroborated Edith’s account, confirming that she duly reported the case and did not accept any payment from the accused, Sergeant Abraham.
October, 2024 when the DPO called me to her office saying that the Area Commander called that he needs to see us all.
“Getting there, the Area Commander said the Commissioner of Police (CP) is already aware of the case. He asked me how comes and I said I have no idea how it got to the CP. The area Commander now ordered that all of us including the DPO should make our statements which we did.
“On the 14th October, 2024, the Area Commander called through the S/O that the Commissioner of Police wants to see all of us.
“Reaching the CPs Office, we met his absence in office. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) now interviewed all of us including the DPO.
“The Deputy Commissioner of Police after listening to all of us ordered the my DPO to go and handover Sergeant Abraham Ozuobor to Provost for detention. He was angry at my DPO for not detaining Abraham all this while.
“The DPO now started begging for Abraham. The DCP told her in my presence that the DPO should not teach him his job. He said I have not committed any offence reporting this crime. He said we should all go and do as he said.
“That same 14/10/2024, my friend called me that he saw my dismissal letter on Police WhatsApp platform that I was dismissed. But I could not believe or confirm it.
“On October 17, I received a call from the Area Commander directly that I should come to his office which I went. It happened that people from Abuja came to his office to collect our statements. We all took another statement.
“The IPO from Abuja now said the teenager said in her statement (which is new statement) ‘that I was the one that brought her out of the police cell, drugged her, and gave her water’ and after taking it, she did not know what happened to her again.
“Let it also be known that I had interviewed her on two separate videos immediately after I caught them and I have the video evidence that she
described the person who took her out of the cell for Abraham’s office and how Abraham allegedly succeeded in raping her.
“The IPO still told me that they traveled all the way to the girl’s village to have her statement. I immediately told him it’s a lie. That nothing of such happened that day.
“I told him I had no idea how that girl was in that cell in the first place until I heard my colleagues saying she stole a phone when I resumed work on that 7th. There was no way I would free a detainee that is not even my suspect. I told the Abuja IPO that I never did any of such he is allegedly saying the girl said against me. I referred him to the first video and first statement.”
According to her, an Inspector later sent the dismissal letter to her phone on Monday, November 11, 2024.
She said, “All efforts to have explanation as to why they dismissed me is proven abortive till date.
“As we speak, my husband who is by name Inspector Ibrahim Muhammad was arrested on 11th November, 2024 and taken to the state headquarters Benin till date for this same matter. I was also told that they are making efforts to arrest and prosecute me.”
She stressed that her DPO, after the incident, “tried to reach out to Abraham, but Abraham was not picking his calls as he was hiding”.
“My DPO then begged me to do a favour for her. I asked which favour and she said to me, ‘Call Abraham, pretend that you will accept N1 million so that you would delete the video…,” she said.
Edith further narrated, “I asked her if this was the correct approach to get Abraham come to the office, but she insisted that I should please call and say what she told me.
“Being my superior, and knowing also that I had documented the story, snapped and had the videos with me, I didn’t argue her to further trigger her anger more, knowing that she was already very angry at me for documenting the story.
“I now called Abraham ‘I told him Abraham I heard that you are on transfer to Rivers State Command and he said yes. I said okay bring one million cash for me to delete the video.’ I did as the DPO said in her presence because she asked me to, thinking it was to have Abraham come out.
“I also thought it could reduce the tension my superiors were mounting on me to die down the case. This call was made in presence of my DPO and it was because my DPO asked me to call and tell him this so that he will be free to come out and report to the office.
“I never knew that she was plotting with Abraham to record and present me to be extorting from Abraham.
“This was my DPO’s plan to ordinarily have Abraham come to the Office but she later changed it to report against me that I attempted extortion.
“I did not collect any money. If I had the intention, I would not document the scenario or even call the attention of the entire people on duty and I wouldn’t even call the SO to report either.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Take-It-Back Movement petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, calling for a review of the case and the dismissal of Edith, which it termed as unjust.
