A civil society organisation, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has asked the Inspector-General of Police to call up and consolidate several petitions and investigation files involving a Lagos used-battery trader, Mr Timothy Chika Odoh, citing concerns about repeated arrests, seizures and alleged demands for money by police personnel.
In a follow-up petition dated October 7, 2026, and signed by its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, RULAAC asked for an independent investigative team to be set up outside the police formations already handling the complaints.
Mr. Odoh, also known as Chika Onwa Odo, trades in used batteries and related materials. According to RULAAC, his troubles stem from unsubstantiated allegations that telecommunications equipment and materials were stolen from facilities associated with ATC Telecommunications.
The group said the same or substantially related complaints have been pursued at the Zone 2 Command, SWAT/Adeniji Adele, the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex Alagbon, and the Lagos State Police Command.
RULAAC drew attention to the recurring involvement of Mr. Uche Ozoigwe, a security manager associated with ATC Telecommunications. Mr. Odoh alleges that Mr. Ozoigwe has threatened him since 2025, vowing to use the police to have him jailed, drive him out of the battery business and destroy his livelihood. RULAAC said it could not independently verify the claim, but argued that the subsequent pattern of petitions and police action warrants independent investigation.
The group said Mr. Odoh, his workers, associates and wife have at different times been arrested in connection with the complaints. In one instance, officers reportedly went to his home and, finding him absent, arrested his wife and removed his vehicle. Following RULAAC’s intervention, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, ordered her release. She reportedly later lost her pregnancy.
RULAAC said goods seized from Mr. Odoh remain with FCID Annex Alagbon, while his vehicle and other seized goods are held at the Lagos Command. It added that Mr. Odoh’s lawyers have informed him that police personnel allegedly demanded money in exchange for the release of the goods and vehicle.
RULAAC said it could not verify the claim but described it as serious enough to require investigation, stressing that the release or retention of property in police custody “must be determined by law and evidential requirements, not unofficial payments.”
According to RULAAC, the central question is whether the complaints involve genuinely separate criminal transactions or whether substantially the same allegations are being repeatedly presented to different police formations, resulting in successive arrests, seizures and investigations.
The organisation stressed that it was not seeking to shield Mr. Odoh from legitimate investigation. “If credible evidence establishes that he knowingly received or dealt in stolen property or committed any other offence, the law should take its course,” it said, but added that police processes must not become instruments for pursuing a private vendetta.
In its seven requests, RULAAC asked the Inspector-General to consolidate all related petitions and files from the formations involved, and to constitute an independent team to determine whether the petitions concern distinct transactions or substantially overlap.
It also asked for an investigation into Mr. Ozoigwe’s role and the alleged threat, and a review of the arrest of Mr. Odoh’s wife, particularly whether she was detained in place of her husband or on reasonable suspicion of her own wrongdoing.
The group further asked for the status of all seized goods and vehicles to be established, including inventories and the legal basis for their retention, with any property no longer lawfully needed as evidence to be released. It called for an independent investigation of the alleged demands for money, with action against any personnel found responsible, and for a direction against duplicative arrests, seizures or investigations arising from substantially the same allegations pending the review, without prejudice to lawful action on genuinely distinct offences or new evidence.
RULAAC said it holds communications and documentation on the chronology of the matter and would make them available to an independent team.
“Our intervention is not intended to determine Mr. Odoh’s innocence or guilt,” the group said. “We ask only that all the relevant files and evidence be examined together by an impartial authority.”
The organisation closed with an appeal: “Let all the files be brought together. Let the evidence establish the truth.”
