Abuja Estate Residents Accuse Police DSP of Terror Campaign; Journalist Targeted Amidst Allegations of Police Inaction
Residents of Oduah Estate in Abuja say they are living in a state of fear and uncertainty, alleging a campaign of terror, intimidation, and death threats orchestrated by a serving police officer identified as DSP Jeffery Ugochukwu.
According to a series of "Save Our Souls" (SOS) petitions, the officer, whose current posting within the Nigeria Police Force remains unknown, has allegedly leveraged his position to act with impunity, endangering the lives of dozens of families, including children, nursing mothers, and a then pregnant woman.
The tenants, fearing that the threats, some ofwhich were reportedly captured on video, could lead to an avoidable loss of lives, have escalated their complaints from the Inspector-General of Police and the Force Provost Marshal to the Police Service Commission (PSC), demanding urgent disciplinary action to avert what they warn could become a tragedy.
In a petition dated August 13, 2025, the Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative) described DSP Ugochukwu as “a threat to the lives of his co-tenants, who consistently constitutes a nuisance and lives above the law simply because he is a police officer.” The human rights group warned that the situation was deteriorating rapidly and “could lead to tragedy if immediate action is not taken.”
This followed an earlier joint complaint by tenants to the Force Provost Department in June 2025, which alleged criminal intimidation, physical assault, destruction of property, and the brandishing of a service pistol in an attempt to shoot at residents.
Residents claimed in one petition that the harassment worsened when the officer began spraying a tear-gas-like substance through the ceiling, causing choking, breathing difficulties, and eye irritation. This act allegedly forced entire families, including children, to flee their rooms gasping for air.
CREMA Initiative’s petition affirmed that this act “is currently endangering the lives of a pregnant woman, children, breastfeeding babies, and other vulnerable occupants.”
Tenants also accused the officer of playing extremely loud music late into the night, depriving neighbours of sleep and aggravating health conditions such as hypertension. One family reportedly fled the estate entirely after repeated threats.
The petitions further detail deliberate acts of vandalism and sabotage. On June 15 and 17, 2025, after his flat was disconnected by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), DSP Ugochukwu allegedly cut the main electric line, plunging nine other flats into darkness.
He was also accused of destroying estate water pipes on multiple occasions and, on September 13, 2025, pouring palm oil across a shared lobby and damaging a neighbour’s window net.
More chilling, residents recount repeated threats of lethal violence. In a petition dated September 29, 2025, the “Concerned Tenants” recounted how the officer allegedly declared, “You should continue; very soon I will get my rifle and fire everybody.” The next day, he reportedly emerged with a jackknife, threatening to kill any tenant who knocked on his door, an incident said to have been captured on video. Another petition claimed he once boasted that if provoked, he would “use his rifle to fire at the person and then turn it on himself — and the matter would be closed.”
Tenants further alleged that he had brandished a pistol at the estate caretaker, Mr. Ibe Uzoma, physically assaulted him, and refused to pay motorcycle operators for services rendered within the estate.
Despite these several oral and written complaints, residents insist that no meaningful action has been taken by the police authorities. Mr. Uzoma confirmed that reports were made to the Karu Area Command, which visited the scene but took no further action before tenants filed a formal petition on September 29, 2025.
When officers from the Nyanya Police Division's Surveillance Unit reportedly attempted to invite the DSP for questioning on September 13, “he bluntly refused to open his door each time.” Tenants now fear the situation has spiralled beyond the control of divisional leadership.
Frustrated by the continued inaction, the tenants retained the Trio Jurist Law Firm, which has petitioned the Chairman of the Police Service Commission. The firm wrote, “It is now an obvious fact that the Nigeria Police Force, knowing the state of DSP Ugochukwu, is intentionally protecting one of theirs at the risk of the lives of our clients.”
They warned that the continued protection of the officer could “escalate into a full breach of peace should our clients resort to self-help.”
The situation escalated further in the early hours of Thursday, October 16, 2025, when residents alleged that DSP Ugochukwu was seen armed with a jackknife, knocking on several doors.
This was described as an apparent attempt to identify the apartment of Comrade James Ezema, a journalist who serves as the National Vice President (Investigation) of the Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists (NGIJ) and National President of the Association of Bloggers and Journalists Against Fake News (ABJFN).
Later that evening, witnesses said the officer was seen again, still knocking on the door of another tenant whose wife had just put to bed, allegedly in a continued search for the journalist. He reportedly left with the electricity meter serving two flats.
Comrade Ezema, who is also the Director of Operations at CREMA Initiative, said in a statement on Sunday that he remains in shock. “I was dumbfounded because there has been no personal issue with him to warrant his manhunt for me,” he stated.
“Nigerians should hold DSP Jeffery Ugochukwu and the Nigeria Police Force responsible if anything happens to me, my loved ones, or any tenant. Right now, I cannot move around alone and freely for fear of my life and safety.”
Ezema added, “It’s shameful that the Nigeria Police Force has sunk so low that allegations of threats to life are treated with levity. I don’t want to be another Mohbad, who petitioned the police but no action was taken until his mysterious death. We don’t need to wait for tragedy before action is taken. No one’s life should be endangered because an officer claims to have a DIG as his godfather.”
He further appealed to the alleged senior officer, stating, “We are appealing to the DIG whom he claims to be his godfather not to back criminality and lawlessness at the expense of citizens’ lives.”
According to Ezema, when one of the petitions to the Inspector-General of Police got to the Police Complaint Response Unit (CRU) at the Force Headquarters, officials, after two follow-up visits by the tenants and the landlord, “bluntly told the landlord and some tenants that the policeman cannot be traced and there is nothing they can do.” He lamented that when asked, “If he’s an unknown police officer, isn’t that the main reason to act — if it’s an act of impersonation? Still, they said nothing and did nothing till today.”
In an urgent message on Saturday morning, October 18, 2025, to the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Benjamin Hundeyin, with a copy sent to the FCT PPRO, SP Josephine Adeh, Comrade Ezema wrote that he was urgently requesting immediate intervention. He identified the individual as DSP Jeffrey Ugochukwu, "said to be deployed to your office," and detailed the failure of previous petitions.
He highlighted the October 16 incident involving the jackknife and meter vandalism, the intimidation in the 27-flat mini-estate, and the officer's boast of having a DIG as a godfather.
He respectfully but urgently requested that the FPRO's office order the officer's immediate removal and suspension from civilian contact pending investigation, provide urgent protection for himself and other endangered tenants, and conduct an impartial investigation into the officer's conduct and the police’s failure to act, making the appeal "not to impede legitimate policing but to prevent an avoidable tragedy.”
Residents say they now live in constant fear, sleeping in shifts and keeping watch over their families at night. While awaiting a formal response from the PSC, they have begun appealing to other security agencies for protection, lamenting that “it has become clear that police authorities have refused to act.”
One resident said, “All we are asking for is safety. We just want to live without fear in our own homes.”
According to the journalist's statement, the FCT PPRO, SP Josephine Adeh, responded when a video of the police officer threatening residents while armed with a jackknife was sent to her, stating, "Noted I have even started acting on it too."
The complainants have subsequently been invited by the FCT Command's Police Complaints Response Unit and are scheduled to be there at 10 am on Monday.
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