The policewoman who reported an alleged rape case by her colleague at the Ibie Police station, Edo State, and was subsequently dismissed by the Police authorities, has threatened to commit murder-suicide.
In her cry for justice, former Police Inspector Edith Uduma, threatened to kill all her children, after which she will also kill herself if she does not get justice. She said she would use poison to achieve her aim.
Uduma wondered that if the Nigerian Police authorities could cover up a rape case she had diligently reported and dismiss her ignominiously for exposing the matter, how much more would have happened if the case had involved innocent civilians.
Uduma said this in an interview with reporters, denying everything that the Edo Police Command had said about the case.
“What the Edo Command is saying is not what happened. They know I have no rank or support to fight back,” Uduma said.
According to the beleaguered ex-cop, the Force Headquarters in Abuja was still investigating the matter when the Edo command hurriedly dismissed her. “I want justice. My dismissal is unjust,” she said tearfully.
Speaking on the detention of her husband and the reduction in his rank by the Police authorities, she said that her husband only brought food for her on the night of the incident, and that he was not complicit in the allegations levelled against him.
“He (my husband) used to bring something for me to eat. He brought food that time to the station.
“If Nigerians refuse to listen to me – because my husband has been in detention, and they have been looking for me to arrest me, to charge me to court – if Nigeria refuses to listen to me, I will just poison all my children and myself. I will die. Because I’m just stranded like this,” she said, noting she had been in hiding and had not seen her children in a long time due to the incident.”
It may be recalled that 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.
In the video, the officer was seen hurriedly pulling up his trousers and querying why Edith was making the video recording. The girl was seen lying on a chair in the room.
The police command in the state later said that both officers were dismissed after an orderly room trial found them guilty.
In response to Uduma’s claim, the Edo State Police Command, in a statement issued in November by its Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, stated that Uduma conspired with her husband, Inspector Ibrahim Mohammed, to extort N1m from Abraham to cover up the incident; and that when Abraham offered N45,000 instead, the video was leaked online.
The command said, “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 in an interview with newsmen, insisting that she did not extort money from Abraham and that she did not receive a fair hearing.
