By Felix Mordi
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Denton Police Station in Lagos, Adegoke Akinlade, currently enmeshed in a double adversity of loss of his service pistol and allegedly having sex with a girlfriend in his office, has incurred the wrath of the Force.
To start with, he has been redeployed from the division, while an independent investigation panel has been set up by the Lagos State Police Command, to look into the two critical issues following which, appropriate actions would be taken against him if indicted.
Akinlade was said to have invited his girlfriend, 29-year-old Jennifer Madueke, to his office on Friday, August 27, 2021, and slept with her till the following day, according to The Punch Newspaper publication, only to invite her once again on Saturday, September 4, alleging her of responsible for the missing pistol.
In a press release e-signed by the state Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu,
he said: “This is to inform the general public that the Lagos State Police Command is not oblivious of the reported case of theft of service pistol against one Jennifer Madueke ‘f’ and the allegation of sex in the office against DPO Denton Police Division, CSP Adegoke Akinlade as published on pages 4 and 5 of today’s edition of the Punch.
“In the interest of fairness and justice, the Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered an independent, thorough and unbiased investigation into the case.
“Members of the public are hereby assured that appropriate actions will be taken against any one found culpable at the conclusion of the ongoing investigation such that, at the end, justice would have been served.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police has directed immediate redeployment of the officer in the eye of the storm so as to pave the way for diligent and unbiased investigation”, the statement concluded.
The Punch Newspaper had reporter on its Metro page that Jennifer Madueke, 29, was being detained by the Lagos State Police Command over the missing service pistol, after spending three days in a detention facility at the Denton Police Station, Ebute Meta, Lagos, where she was allegedly tortured to confess to the crime and thereafter, transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.
According to the Newspaper, Madueke and Akinlade once dated and separated after the Police officer was transferred out of Lagos over seven years ago, only to re-unite when the officer was posted back to Lagos, though not immediately, owing to loss of contacts.
The Punch source said that, it was sometime this year, 2021, they met again and exchanged phone numbers, during which “the DPO, who was married, proposed that they continue with the relationship”.
The newspaper further revealed thus: “On Friday, August 27, he invited the lady to his office and slept with her till Saturday morning. He released her to go around 5am and even saw her off to the bus stop.“They did not see each other again until last Saturday, September 4, when he invited the girl and told her they should go out.
“However, when she went to see him, he detained her and accused her of stealing his service pistol. He kept her in his cell till Monday, September 6. While the girl was in the cell, he asked his boys to torture her to make confessional statements.
“On that Monday, he took her to a herbalist on Jebba Street, Ebute Meta, Lagos, around 8am. The herbalist told him that it was the girl that took the pistol, but she denied the allegation. It was from there he took her to the SCIID, Yaba, where she has been detained till now,” the source added.”PUNCH Metro learnt that on Tuesday, September 7, the police at the SCIID took the suspect to her house and ransacked the apartment with the hope of recovering the missing pistol.
The effort, however, failed, as nothing was seen.”Another source claimed that the DPO was queried by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.“But, why is the CP leaving him in that position when he should have been removed by now? Is that not injustice?” The Punch source queried.
When contacted by Punch Metro, the embattled DPO said, “I never slept with her; she tricked me, even as he confirmed losing his pistol, but insisted that it was taken by Madueke, who, he claimed, also stole N50,000 from him”.
While denying both allegations of sleeping with her in his office and taking her to any herbalist, the officer affirmed that, “She was my girlfriend in 2011, but we separated.
About one and a half months ago, while I was around the Stadium area, she came to greet me and that was how she knew where I was working and she started coming.
When her coming did not favour me, I told her not to come again. “On that Friday, I was at a club with one of my friends. It was there a girlfriend came to meet me. Then this lady came later. I never knew that she had a mission. I sent her away and said I was busy.
“The other lady with me told me that she was going to Bariga. She [Madueke] also came, but said she could not get a vehicle to her residence that night because it was late. I then left them (both ladies) in the office and went out on a night patrol.“It was then I started thinking I would go back and wake them up.
When I returned, I gave her N4,000 (transport fare) to go.”Asked if he slept with Madueke, he said, “When two people are in my office? I did not sleep with her. I left them there. Unknown to me, she had gone to pick a bag behind my chair.
It was when she left that I discovered that my pistol was missing, with N50,000. I did not even care about the money, but I started calling her, and she did not pick the calls.
She also blocked me on WhatsApp.“We went to prayer houses and consulted alfas, me and the other girl, but we did not find her. I did not see her for one week. I paid people who tracked her.”He said he regretted ‘helping’ Madueke that night when she claimed to be stranded, adding that after she was arrested, she denied taking the gun but admitted to ‘stealing’ N7,000 from the bag.The officer said he reported at the SCIID and made statements on the theft in order to get detectives to recover the gun.“I believe she will still say where the gun is,” he added.