A human rights group has asked the Inspector-General of Police to order an independent investigation into how the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, handled a telecom vandalism case in which four suspects were paraded publicly.
The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) said in a statement on Sunday that it wants a “prompt, independent and impartial investigation” into the case. It cited allegations of backdated petitions, damaged surveillance cameras and retaliation against a man who approached the group for help.
At a press briefing, the AIG in charge of FCID Annex Lagos, Simeon Akpanudom, said the Annex received 1,816 complaints between June 25 and September 18, 2026, and referred 1,803 for investigation. He described the telecom case as one of its breakthroughs.
According to the AIG, FCID received a petition on August 11 from Plutolord Solicitors, acting for ATC Telecommunications Nationwide. The petition alleged that armed persons attacked, robbed and vandalised telecom facilities in Lagos and parts of the Southeast between March and May 2026, stealing equipment worth about ₦150 million.
Police arrested Abuchi Odikemere, Anyanwu Emmanuel, Kayode Segun and 17-year-old Emmanuel Chineku at a shop in Kosofe, Lagos. Items recovered included 52 solar batteries, two surveillance cameras, three small solar panels, two solar meters, a hammer and a chisel.
RULAAC said it recognises the seriousness of attacks on critical telecom infrastructure and supports the prosecution of anyone against whom credible evidence exists. But it said information it later received raises questions “which should not be ignored merely because suspects have already been publicly paraded.”
The group interviewed Chika Onwa Odo, at whose business premises some of the suspects were arrested. He denies involvement in vandalism or knowingly dealing in stolen equipment. He says he trades in used and decommissioned inverter and telecom batteries from various sources, including markets and resellers.
His lawyer told RULAAC that Chika may lack receipts or complete records showing the source of some of the goods. RULAAC said this is “a legitimate issue for police investigation,” but added that the absence of receipts “cannot, by itself, establish that the goods were stolen or that the persons arrested participated in the alleged robbery.”
The group said three questions must be answered: whether the recovered items can be traced through serial numbers, inventories or tracking records to specific vandalised sites; when and where those sites were attacked; and what evidence links each suspect to those incidents.
RULAAC said it has received allegations that the operation may have started from information supplied by an informant. It said additional petitions from other telecom interests emerged only after questions were raised about the complainants and the evidence. It also cited allegations that some petitions may have been “retrospectively procured or backdated.”
“RULAAC does not present these allegations as facts,” the statement said. It added that they are “readily capable of independent verification,” since police records should show when each petition was written, received, stamped and assigned, and who introduced the complainants.
Chika also alleged that the person he says is behind the current allegations previously had him arrested over similar claims involving batteries said to belong to ATC.
He said that the matter was handled at Zone 2, and that he was detained and charged to court. The complainant later stopped attending proceedings, and the case stalled.
He further alleged that the same individual threatened to ensure he was jailed if he continued his battery business. RULAAC called for the Zone 2 file and court records to be retrieved, saying they could either support or disprove his account.
Chika alleged that police officers damaged CCTV cameras at his premises during the operation. RULAAC said footage could be independent evidence of events before and during the raid, and that it is important to determine “whether cameras were damaged, by whom, under what circumstances and whether any footage survived.”
The group also said independent sources told it that some officers involved became angry after Chika approached RULAAC.
It said there are allegations that later actions were partly driven by a determination to defend the investigation and “deal with” him for bringing outside scrutiny.
“These allegations are particularly serious,” the statement said. “No citizen should suffer retaliation for approaching a lawyer, human rights organisation or senior police authority concerning perceived misconduct.”
RULAAC said it contacted AIG Akpanudom before the parade and appealed to him to keep an open mind and personally hear Chika’s account. It said it repeated the appeal afterwards.
The group said it was concerned that the suspects were presented as members of a syndicate while its questions remained unresolved.
It also noted that reports quote the AIG as saying efforts were continuing to arrest “fleeing members of the syndicate,” though the suspects were still awaiting prosecution.
“A public parade must not create an institutional commitment to a particular narrative or discourage investigators from following evidence that points in another direction,” the statement said.
In its petition to the IGP, RULAAC asked for an investigation conducted outside the immediate investigative team whose conduct is part of the allegations.
It wants the probe to establish the true chronology and provenance of the petitions, examine the earlier Zone 2 case, determine whether CCTV equipment was damaged, and trace the provenance of the seized goods.
It also wants investigators to look into allegations of improper financial demands or benefits, insider collaboration and retaliation, and to ensure the seized goods are inventoried and preserved pending a decision on ownership and evidential status.
“We are not asking the Inspector-General of Police to pronounce Chika or the arrested persons innocent,” the statement said. “Neither are we asking him to presume that the police officers or complainants have committed wrongdoing. We are asking the IGP to establish the truth.”
The group added that if credible evidence shows Chika, his workers or anyone else took part in vandalism, robbery, theft or knowingly received stolen equipment, “the law should take its course.”
But if the probe finds that police processes were manipulated, complaints backdated, evidence destroyed, police powers used for extortion or private interests, or a citizen retaliated against, “those responsible must equally be held accountable.”
“Police accountability is not hostility to the Police,” the statement said. “An institution demonstrates its strength when it can investigate allegations against its own personnel with the same seriousness with which it investigates allegations against members of the public.”
