The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Rilwan Disu, to order an independent investigation into the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, over its handling of a telecommunications vandalism case involving four suspects publicly paraded by the police.
At a press briefing over the weekend, RULAAC’s Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the organisation supports the prosecution of anyone found culpable for attacks on critical telecommunications infrastructure, but argued that questions surrounding the investigation should be independently examined to ensure justice and accountability.
The call follows a briefing by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of FCID Annex Lagos, Simeon Akpanudom, who announced that the command had received 1,816 complaints between June 25 and September 18, 2026, referring 1,803 for investigation, saying the telecom vandalism case was one of the command’s major breakthroughs.
According to the police, FCID received a petition on August 11 from Plutolord Solicitors on behalf of ATC Telecommunications Nationwide, alleging that armed persons attacked and vandalised telecommunications facilities in Lagos and parts of the South-East between March and May, stealing equipment valued at about ₦150 million.
The police subsequently arrested Abuchi Odikemere, Anyanwu Emmanuel, Kayode Segun and 17-year-old Emmanuel Chineku at a shop in Kosofe, Lagos, where officers said they recovered 52 solar batteries, two surveillance cameras, three solar panels, two solar meters, a hammer and a chisel.
However, RULAAC said information it obtained after interviewing Chika Onwa Odo, the owner of the premises where some of the suspects were arrested, raised concerns that warranted an independent review.
The organisation said Odo denied involvement in vandalism or knowingly dealing in stolen telecommunications equipment, insisting that he trades in used and decommissioned inverter and telecom batteries sourced from different suppliers.
While acknowledging that Odo’s inability to produce complete receipts for some of the items was a legitimate subject for police investigation, RULAAC argued that the absence of documentation alone should not be treated as proof that the goods were stolen or that those arrested participated in the alleged attacks.
The organisation urged investigators to establish whether the recovered batteries and equipment could be traced through serial numbers, inventories or other objective evidence to specific telecommunications sites reportedly vandalised between March and May.
RULAAC also asked the IGP to investigate allegations concerning the timing and origin of petitions that triggered the operation.
“We received claims that additional complaints involving telecommunications interests emerged after questions were raised about the evidential basis of the arrests. Some petitions may have been retrospectively procured or backdated.
“We are not presenting those claims as established facts but police records should independently verify when each petition was written, received, stamped and assigned for investigation,” the RULAAC said.
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The rights organisation further requested a review of an earlier Zone 2 police case involving Odo, who claimed he had previously been arrested over similar allegations relating to batteries allegedly belonging to ATC.
According to RULAAC, Odo alleged that the earlier case stalled after the complainant stopped attending court and that he had been threatened with imprisonment if he continued his battery business.
Another issue raised by the organisation concerns Odo’s allegation that police officers damaged CCTV cameras at his premises during the operation.
RULAAC said any destruction of surveillance equipment would be significant because CCTV footage could provide independent evidence of events before and during the raid.
The group also cited allegations from what it described as independent sources that some officers became hostile after Odo approached RULAAC for legal and human rights intervention, claiming there were suggestions of retaliation for subjecting the investigation to outside scrutiny.
RULAAC said it had repeatedly appealed to AIG Akpanudom to hear Odo’s account before the public parade of the suspects, expressing concern that describing the suspects as members of a syndicate before prosecution could create an institutional commitment to a particular narrative.
In its petition, the organisation urged the IGP to constitute an investigative team outside the officers involved in the original operation, retrieve records from the earlier Zone 2 case, determine whether CCTV equipment was damaged, verify the ownership of the seized goods, investigate allegations of improper financial demands and retaliation, preserve all evidence, and protect witnesses.
Nwanguma maintained that the petition was not a request for the police to declare the suspects innocent or to presume wrongdoing by officers or complainants, but rather a call for an independent process to establish the facts.
He said that if credible evidence ultimately showed that the suspects participated in vandalism, robbery or knowingly received stolen telecommunications equipment, the law should take its course.
