Juliana Francis
A pregnant mother of four, Mrs Joy, has accused the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Ogombo Police Station, Ajah, Lagos State, of beating her and attempting to dip his hand into her ‘bra’ to forcibly collect her phone.
The woman, who said that she is 42 weeks pregnant, alleged that following her mistreatment at the police station, she fainted, but was resuscitated by concerned police personnel who doused her with water.
She also said that due to the incident, her BP jumped and she had to spend four days on admission at the Island maternity.
She is currently worried that the assault on her has affected her unborn baby.
She said: “After the incident, I went to hospital where I was given a drip, told to go for a scan and to carry out other medical tests. I was admitted for four days and discharged. However, I returned to the hospital because I was still not feeling well, the doctor said that my BP was way too high and I should be admitted again.”
A non-governmental organisation, Ambassador For Peace And Enlightenment Foundation, which is fighting for Joy, has condemned the assault, demanding that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Adegoke Fayoade should look into the matter and ensure that proper disciplinary measures were taken against the DPO.
Although the matter that took Joy to Ogombo Police Station, leading to her allegedly being beaten by the DPO, had to do with a security guard slapping her daughter after accusing her of stealing a bangle, Joy however, believed that there was a case of conspiracy against her.
She also believed that the conspiracy was hatched between the DPO and a lawyer standing in for the alleged defilement perpetrator.
The alleged perpetrator is Mr Endurance, and he was alleged to have defiled Joy’s 13-year-old daughter.
Following the defilement of her daughter, a primary six pupil, Joy went to Negombo Police Station to report the matter and when she felt it was not being handled with the seriousness it deserved, she reached out to the Lagos State Government under the aegis of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).
The DSVR had called the station and also ensured the matter was charged to court. Before the defilement case was charged to court, Joy had been under immense pressure from Endurance’s family, friends, and lawyer to drop the case, but she had maintained her stand.
According to her, Endurance was remanded, while her life was now under constant threat. She revealed that the threat made her run away from her apartment with her four children.
The organisation fighting to get justice for Joy, just like Joy, believed there was a conspiracy, with the result being to truncate the defilement matter ongoing in the court.
For a clear understanding of this theory of conspiracy, it will be better to narrate how the defilement incident which happened a while ago in March 2024, and the slapping of Joy’s daughter by a security guard, are now being weaved together by a lawyer to truncate the bigger case of defilement which is already in court.
According to Joy, not only is the case of slapping of her daughter being twisted by the lawyer hired by Endurance’s family, but the lawyer, alleged to be a friend of the DPO of Ogombo Police Station, is also using videos and pictures of two separate incidents to threaten the pregnant woman.
First Case: Defilement Of 13-Year-Old Child By Neighbour
Joy and her children live in a building where all the tenants were issued eviction notices.
Other tenants left, except for Joy and her 35-year-old neighbour Endurance.
Endurance lives with his pregnant lover, who finally gave birth. According to Joy, she noticed that Endurance was not treating his woman well, during and after pregnancy. She felt it was due to financial challenges and had advised the lady to look for a job after she had delivered her baby, promising to her in minding the baby.
The lady eventually got a job and as agreed Joy and her children started minding the baby whenever the new mom went to work. It was an agreeable arrangement until Endurance defiled Joy’s 13-year-old daughter.
Joy narrated: “I went to the clinic and asked my 13-year-old daughter to watch over the baby for me. I returned to meet my daughter weeping. When I pressed her, she said that Endurance raped her. It happened when she went to lay the sleeping baby in the room, Endurance took advantage of her.
“She said Endurance, after drinking ‘garri with gum,’ brought out a knife and then ordered her to carry out different offensive acts on him. I confronted him in the presence of his girlfriend, he just kept mute and after a while, he said that I and my daughter were crazy people.
“It turned into a big quarrel and his girlfriend fought with me. I called Social Welfare, and I was asked to go to the nearest police station to report the incident.
“The nearest Police Station is Ogombo Police Station, but before I finished calling welfare and moved to the station, Endurance and his woman had already gone to the same police station.
“When I got there, I tried to explain to the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), how my daughter was raped, but he was not interested. Rather, I was detained, put behind the counter and later bailed with the sum of N10,000. The money was given to my Investigating Police Officer (IPO)
“I returned home, but I was troubled in my spirit over what happened to my little girl. I called social welfare in Ikeja, who advised me to go and report the matter at Ajiwe Police Station.
“When I got to Ajiwe, I was asked to take my daughter to the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) for a medical examination on my child. I wanted to collect the report, but WARIF said it was forwarded to the police. Following the report, police went with me to arrest Endurance and she was then charged to court.
“Endurance’s girlfriend, his family members and his friends in the community came to beg, asking me to drop the case, but I refused. Ever since Endurance was remanded in prison custody, my life has become a living hell as I am always under constant threat.
“Endurance’s family got a lawyer, who told me that he would do everything possible to move the case to High Court, that he would want me to convince my daughter to tell the High Court that she lied, that the real culprit that raped her ran away. I told him never!
“He then told me that he has my pictures and videos where I was fighting, that he would use them to deal with me.”
Second Case: Security Guard Slapping 13-Year-Old Girl Over Bangle
Joy said that the defilement case happened before the attack on her daughter by a security guard in their community.
She explained that the incident with the security guard happened in March, but a tenant, Taiye, who got involved in the case went to complain in May 2024 against Joy.
He did not go alone; he went to the station with Endurance’s lawyer, friends and girlfriend.
This made Joy believe that the said tenant, Taiye was conniving with Endurance’s lawyer to truncate the defilement which was already in court.
Recalling the attack on her daughter, Joy said: “I was at home that fateful day when someone came to tell me that a security guard, minding a building in our community was beating my daughter.
“I ran there to see what was going on, the security guard accused my daughter of stealing his bangle, and the way he was beating her, even while I was standing there, broke my heart. He didn’t respect my presence. A tenant in the compound where the security guard was working came out to say my daughter’s mouth was too sharp. He slapped my daughter. It was terrible. I fought them.
“Several weeks after the incident, when we’ve all forgotten about it, this tenant, Taiye, along with Endurance’s lawyer and girlfriend went to Ogombo Police Station to complain against me.
“It was funny! The security guard who I had a case with, did not report it, it was Taiye, a tenant in that compound. But he did not even report the truth but lies!
“He and his cohorts claimed that I accused him of raping my daughter and that I was demanding money.
“They brought out a video, which someone took on the day I was fighting the security guard, claiming that was the evidence of me fighting and demanding money from Taiye after accusing him of raping my daughter. I was shocked!
“It was the DCO that I attended to us, and I tried to explain, but he was not interested. Interestingly, when the tenant was asked why he came to report the matter now after several weeks, he responded that he had earlier decided to let the matter go.
“He was asked why he changed his mind and came to make a report, but he kept quiet. He was also asked why he came with the lawyer, friends and wife to an alleged defilement perpetrator in a different case concerning me and my daughter, he also did not respond.
“The DCO said that he would make sure I go to prison. I replied that I would never go to prison! When the lawyer heard that statement from the DCO, he was very happy and reminded me that he had promised to deal with me.
“I was put behind the counter. The lawyer mocked me, telling the police that he had known me for two years and that I had been carrying my pregnancy for years. He said that I was not pregnant but had fibroid. The truth is that I don’t know even him. I have never met him until the rape.
“I called DSVR to tell them my ordeal. The woman heading the Unit, Lola spoke with the police, asking why I was detained, they told her that I was making trouble. She reminded them that the case of the rape of my daughter was already in court.
“I had never seen or met the DPO in charge of Ogombo Police Station. So, following my arrest by the tenant and lawyer, I was behind the counter, and it was midnight, the DPO walked into the police Station, but I didn’t know him.
“He walked in and started shouting, ‘Where is that bastard that sent someone to prison! Where is that bastard?” He said he would make sure by Monday I would go to prison. I responded that never, I will not go to prison. I was making a phone call at that time.
“He walked towards me, asking who allowed me to be making a call, he wanted to collect my phone, and I dropped into my bra. He then tried to put his hand inside my breasts to collect the phone, there was a struggle, and my dress got torn.
“He slapped and punched me, I started crying, shouting that I wanted to see the DPO, that the policeman wanted to kill me, I didn’t know he was the DPO. At one point, I started losing consciousness. I fell to the ground, but the DPO told the police folks to leave me there, that epilepsy was troubling me. But some police personnel there poured water on me.
“In the morning, I wanted to report the matter to the DPO, so I asked for him, it was then they told me that the policeman that beat me up was the DPO. The police personnel were complaining and grumbling over the matter the DPO treated me, they said he was wrong. I did not have an Android phone; they took snapshots of my torn clothes for me.
“My lawyer travelled, so his wife came to the station with my daughter to see me. They wanted to buy me food, but the DPO ordered that I should not be given any food. The woman and my daughter left.
“By then I was very hungry, tired, and weak. I fainted again. All the police personnel started running helter-skelter, they were frantic because of my condition. They were scared and my IPO was visibly shaking. There was confusion at the station.
“The DPO called my lawyer’s wife, begging her to come back and take me and to bring the food. The police people poured water on me.
“I was arrested on Friday and released on Saturday night. That same Saturday night, Endurance’s lawyer and some hoodlums came to chase my children and I out of the house. I had never been so scared in my life.
“On Monday I went to Island Maternity. I was on my way to the hospital when my IPO called, that I should come to the station immediately. I explained my health condition and I told him that I was on my to the hospital, he said I would be hunted down and arrested.
“These days I am always feeling weak. I am tired and everyone is after me, the police, DPO, IPO, Endurance’s lawyer, his wife, his family members, and his friends. I don’t even know if my baby is still alive. I cannot feel it moving anymore. People should come and help me. This is too much for me. I don’t know what to do.”
Ambassador For Peace And Enlightenment Foundation
An official with the Ambassador For Peace And Enlightenment Foundation, Mr Neye Solomon, explained that when his organisation got wind of the shabby maltreatment of Joy by the DPO from a mandated report, they had quickly stepped into the matter.
His words: “A pregnant woman was intentionally detained, half stripped and beaten in a police station and then threatened with prison because of a previous rape case which was already charged to court by DSVR.
“We understand that a lawyer working for the alleged rape perpetrator is a friend to the DPO, therefore cooperating with him to threaten Joy. This is happening because the pregnant woman refused the defiled child to recant her statement.
“She was invited on the case of two people fighting, instead she was detained, beaten and then fainted. She was repeatedly insulted and threatened. We heard that the police were told to deny that the DPO touched the woman, but they all witnessed her screaming for help while being assaulted by the DPO. We frown on the unprofessional conduct of this highly placed police officer and urge the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to investigate the matter.
“We also urged the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs to look into this matter and the Federation of Women’s Lawyer (FIDA) to look into this matter.”
Our reporter called the DPO, whose TrueCaller showed Fatai Amori, but the phone did not connect. She also sent WhatsApp messages.
Our reporter also contacted the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hundeyin, stating and citing the allegations against the DPO by Joy, that she was beaten by him at his station.
He replied thus: “She went to fight with another civilian at the Police Station. No Policeman touched her. I have videos but let me hold onto them.”
Thereafter, Hundeyin forwarded pictures showing pregnant Joy fighting with a man, insisting that the fight happened at Ogombo Police Station. He added that Joy was, the “aggressor” in the case.
Reacting to the pictures, Solomon said: “That was on the day that the security guard slapped her daughter. It happened in their community, and it was nowhere near Ogombo Police Station.
“These pictures and videos were also what the lawyer to Endurance had been threatening Joy with, telling her to convince her daughter to lie about the defilement or he would use the pictures and videos to deal with her.”
It is worth noting that the dress Joy was wearing in the picture at the Police Station was different from the one she wore on the day she fought with the security guard.