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By Akeem Atoyebi
A former police officer in Edo State, Inspector Edith Uduma, has threatened to kill herself and her children following her dismissal from the police force after she exposed an alleged rape incident involving a colleague.
She accused the state police command of unjustly dismissing her, saying the public had not also heard her side of the story.
Uduma’s dismissal came after a viral video that she captured in October showed one Sergeant Abraham, another officer, in a compromising position with a 17-year-old girl at the police station in the South Ibie area of Edo State.
The officer was seen hurriedly wearing his trousers and querying why Edith was making a video recording. The girl was seen lying on a chair in the room in the course of this.
It was learnt from the police that both officers were later dismissed following an orderly room trial.
The Edo State Police Command, in a statement released in November by its Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, alleged that Uduma conspired with her husband, Inspector Ibrahim Mohammed, to extort N1m from Abraham to cover up the incident. When Abraham reportedly offered N45,000 instead, the video was leaked online, the police claimed.
The command said, “That, contrary to reports from certain quarters, the said female police officer, AP/no 228719 Insp. Edith Uduma, was the Charge Room Officer on October 7, 2024, the night F/No. 504694 Sgt Abraham allegedly raped a female suspect in the station.
“The female officer, instead of reporting the incident to the Divisional Police Officer or the Incident Duty Officer as the case may be, for disciplinary actions to be initiated against the erring officer, took advantage of the situation to enrich herself by calling her husband, AP No. 228652 Insp. Ibrahim Mohammed, whom she conspired with to unlawfully demand the sum of N1m from the sergeant to assist him in concealing the matter.
“Following these events, an orderly room trial was initiated against all the officers, which led to the dismissal of Sgt. Abraham and Insp Edith Uduma.”
Uduma’s husband was also demoted to the rank of Sergeant.
However, Uduma denied the allegations insisting she never extorted money and that she was not given a fair hearing. She alleged that her dismissal was orchestrated because she lacked influential connections.
Uduma who threatened to kill herself if she didn’t get justice said, “What the Edo Command is saying is not what happened. They know I have no rank or support to fight back,” Uduma said.
She further revealed that the Force Headquarters in Abuja was still investigating the matter only for the Edo command to hurriedly dismiss her.
“I want justice. My dismissal is unjust,” she said tearfully.
