Lagos State Police Command is at the verge of dismissing two police inspectors suspected to be dating each other.
The affected officers are Inspectors Adedoyin Damilola with AP/NO 289317 and Makanjuola Modupe with AP/NO 234465, who served at the Bariga Division prior to their ordeal.
The woman inspector, Modupe Makanjuola, was accused by the Divisional Police Officers DPO, SP Joshua T. Gbadegeshin, of sleeping with his colleague, Inspector Damilola Adeoye, even though he had the intention of going out with her, an accusation the woman inspector denied.
However, it was gathered that the distraught DPO, who pointedly told the Woman Inspector that he hadn’t asked any woman out in his life without success, vowed to see to the exit of her and her male Inspector friend out of the police force. Afraid that the DPO might make good on his threat to dismiss them, they jointly wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, dated August 21, 2023, accusing the DPO of a threat to life, conduct likely to cause breach of peace, and an unprofessional act unbecoming of a senior police officer.
In the petition, the woman inspector claimed evidence of attached WhatsApp amorous messages to her from the DPO, which she turned down, including giving out official arms and police camouflage to civilian relatives to go on an operation against the Police Act.
In the meantime, the DPO had written a strong-worded petition to the Commissioner of Police, citing ‘dereliction of duty, gross insubordination, and disobedience to lawful order against the two inspectors, an action that resulted in an orderly room trial.
“But the Provost Marshall then called us and advised us to write a letter of withdrawal to the petition against the DPO on the ground that he is our senior and that the matter will be amicably settled, which we did on January 5, 2024, not knowing that it was a ploy to nail us. We later got to know that both our DPO and the provost were coursemates.”
Continuing, Woman Inspector Modupe added, “Before the coming of Gbadegeshin Joshua as DPO Bariga, I had served three other DPOs without any complaint. I enlisted in the Force on July 1, 2002, and had worked in various formations. The moment SP Gbadegeshin came to Bariga, that was when I started having trouble. He told me he wanted to go out with me, which I subtly declined on the ground that I was married. I told him I had grown up children; some are even giving birth, but he insisted that he must see what is in my buttocks or see me out of the force.
“He further accused me of sleeping with Inspector Damilola Adeoye, stressing that Adeoye had nothing to offer me. Even when I told him that we were simply colleagues, he refused to believe me. On several occasions, he would default on me and detain me in the cell for no reason. As if that were not enough, he placed me on indefinite “standby.” When the situation became unbearable and I had no male friends in the division again for fear of being accused of sleeping with me, I cried to the woman Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration at the Command Headquarters in Ikeja, who helped and transferred me to the Alagbado Division.
“But even after the signal came out, the DPO refused to release me until the AC A had to call our area commander before I was released. I left last September for Alagbado, my new posting, only for the present Provost Marshall to call us again this year because we had a matter to settle, another orderly room trial started for a matter that we had resolved, and a letter of withdrawal to the petition was written. After the trial, we were told we had 7 working days to appeal; that’s where we are now. I want Nigerians, especially the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, a father, to look into this matter dispassionately. To be sent out of a force I had served for twenty-something years because I refused to open my legs for a DPO sounds awkward.”
But for Inspector Adeoye Damilola, his ordeal with the DPO started with his close association with the said woman inspector. “It was a date on Sunday, April 20, 2023, that ASP John called me and said that the DPO wanted to see me, and I asked if there was any problem, and he said no, that he simply asked him to call me. So I went to his office and gave the normal compliment. He called and asked me what my relationship was with woman inspector Modupe, and I said nothing, that we were simply coworkers.
He shifted from his sofa, brought out his personal AK-47 assault rifle, put it on the floor, and asked me to cross the gun and swear to die by gun in the next 7 days if I didn’t sleep with the woman inspector this night. I said, Oga, this is unprofessional; how can I cross your gun for something I didn’t do? He was screaming at the top of his voice that I was contesting his female friend with him.
Even Supol John, who called me to his office, was shocked at the weird scenario. Supol John said, ‘Oga, this is turning into something else; if I had known, I would not have called the inspector.’.
“I told him I would not cross the gun. Since then, he has started victimizing me. Several times, he would default and detain me in a cell for days, sometimes with armed robbers. He would send me on special duty, come to the place, and detain me. I was placed on’ till further notice. The situation became rife when the said woman inspector left last year, and he called me and said, ‘You have made my woman leave my division; I will make sure both of you leave the Force’. When the federal government wanted to renovate the 3rd Mainland Bridge, he posted me there on permanent duty. For the period the renovation lasted, I was there with the workers, and the DPO will visit them three times a day to make sure that I was there. When the bridge was reopened, I resumed duty, and he saw me and asked if I was just coming to work. I told him there was traffic on the way, but he refused to listen to me. I was bundled inside the cell, and my Andriod Spark Teccno phone, which I bought for N75,000 and which contained photographs of his civilian relative in police camouflage bearing an AK 47 rifle and incriminating evidence against him, was seized from me.
“As I speak, my phone is still with him. It was therefore shocking for the present provost, who we learned is also a coursemate of our DPO, to again invite us for an orderly room trial in a matter that had been settled since early this year.”
But reacting, SP Gbadegeshin said he was not authorized to speak to the press over the matter, saying the matter was duly investigated before the action was taken. “Sir, I am not authorized to speak to the press on police matters. The matter you referred to here was the subject of a thorough investigation by Area Commissioner ‘H’ and a Police Orderly Room Procedure sequel to a strong petition to the Office of the Commissioner of Police conducted. Yoú may çoñtàct the àppropríate àuthóritíes fór further clarífications, Sir,” he added.
Contacted, the command’s PRO, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said he was aware of the matter, adding that if they were asked to appeal, it meant they had been dismissed from the force, but there were other options to be explored. “I know the matter; is it not that case involving one old woman inspector and a young guy, of which I am aware? If they are asked to appeal, it means they have been dismissed from the force, but the groan upon the dismissal may not be too strong. But there are other options to be explored,” he added.
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