lady accuses cop of sexual harassment, Ogun police begin probe

A yet-to-be-identified policeman attached to Abobi Police Station,  Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, has been caught on video sexually harassing a 20-year-old female graduate, Precious Owolabi, inside a police van.

The incident was said to have happened on Monday, February 5, 2024, around 7pm, after about six policemen reportedly accosted a motorcycle conveying Owolabi home and forced her to alight and enter their patrol van, for putting on a paor of camouflage knickers

Narrating her ordeal in an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, Owolabi, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Cooperative and Rural Development from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, revealed that the policeman harassed her after she told him that she was a virgin.

She further revealed that the matter had been reported to the DPO of Abobi Police Station, who said he could identify the policeman in the video as one of the police officers attached to his station.

She said, “On Monday night, I was on a bike going home when the policemen told me to come down from the bike because I was putting on a camouflaged shorts. The incident happened around Olabisi Onabanjo Mini Campus in Ago-Iwoye.

“The policemen walked to where the bike stopped and they were telling me ‘why are you putting on this? You dey intimidate us abi?’. I kept on apologising and saying I wasn’t intimidating them.

“They dragged me to the other side of the road and told me to enter their van, and a man who was the boss there told me to hand over my phone and I told him that I needed to make a call first to at least inform someone because it was already getting dark, but the man insisted that I shouldn’t call anyone that he wasn’t joking with me, so I had to give him my phone. It was more like he snatched the phone from me.

“I then entered the van and he left. He came back about 10 to 15 minutes later and asked for my name and my level. I told him that I graduated last year and I only came to return my convocation gown.

“He asked when was I going back home, and I said I  was going back home the next day (which was Tuesday). He then said he would love to have sex with me and pay me well the next morning, but I respectfully told him that I couldn’t have sex with him, and then he slapped me on my right cheek.

“I kept crying and begging him to just let me go. At some point, he gave me back my phone on the condition that I would either pull his trousers or I would follow him home that night, failure of which he would take me to the police station.

“I then said I would pull his trousers because I was under duress, but I needed my phone to make calls to call someone who would bring me clothes to wear in case I was being taken to the police station.

“So he gave me my phone, but as I was about to make a call, he said I dare not call anyone. He was so engrossed in the sexual talk that he forgot that my phone was still with me, that is how I was able to record the videos.

“The policeman kept on harassing me sexually and physically.”

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Omolola Odutola, said the command has invited the indicted officer alongside his colleagues, while vowing to probe the incident.

Odutola said, “We are investigating the matter. We have contacted the Abobi Police Station DPO, and the officer has been invited alongside others that were with him. We’re expecting them soon.

“The CP is against assault on women and children, and I can assure you that we are going to take it up.”