Residents of Odulah Estate, Abuja, say they are living in constant fear amid what they describe as a campaign of terror, intimidation, and death threats allegedly orchestrated by a serving police officer, DSP Jeffery Ugochukwu of the Nigeria Police Force, whose unit is unknown.
According to a series of “Save Our Souls” (SOS) petitions sent to the Inspector-General of Police, the Force Provost Marshal, and the Karu Area Command, the residents accuse the officer of leveraging his position to act with impunity and endangering the lives of dozens of families — including children and a pregnant woman.
Worried that the threats, some of which were captured on video, could lead to avoidable loss of lives, the residents have escalated their petitions to the Police Service Commission (PSC). They are demanding urgent disciplinary action to avert what they fear 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 organization warned that the situation was deteriorating rapidly and “could lead to tragedy if immediate action is not taken.” The petition followed an earlier joint complaint by tenants to the Force Provost Department in June 2025, detailing allegations of criminal intimidation, physical assault, destruction of property, and brandishing of a service pistol with an attempt to shoot at residents.
Residents in one of the petitions allege that the harassment worsened when the officer started spraying a tear-gas-like substance through the ceiling, causing choking, breathing difficulties, and eye irritation — forcing families, including children, to flee their rooms gasping for air.
According to CREMA Initiative’s petition, this act “is currently endangering the lives of a pregnant woman, children, breastfeeding babies, and other vulnerable occupants.”
DSP Ugochukwu is also accused of playing extremely loud music late into the night, depriving neighbors of sleep that could cause health issues such as elevated blood pressure. One tenant reportedly fled the estate with her family after repeated threats.
The petitions further allege deliberate acts of vandalism and sabotage. On June 15 and 17, 2025, after the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) disconnected his flat, DSP Ugochukwu allegedly cut the main electric line, plunging nine other flats into darkness. He was also accused of destroying the estate’s water pipes on multiple occasions and, on September 13, 2025, pouring palm oil across a shared lobby and damaging a neighbor’s window net.
The most chilling allegations involve threats of lethal violence. In a petition dated September 29, 2025, the “Concerned Tenants” recounted an incident in which the officer allegedly declared: “You should continue; very soon I will get my rifle and fire everybody.”
The following day, he allegedly emerged with a jackknife, threatening to kill any tenant who knocked on his door — an incident reportedly captured on video.
Another petition claimed that he once boasted that if disturbed, he would “use his rifle to fire at the person and then turn it on himself — and the matter would be closed.”
Tenants also alleged that he had previously brandished a pistol at the estate caretaker and physically assaulted him, while also refusing to pay commercial motorcycle operators for services rendered within the estate.
Despite multiple oral and written complaints, residents claim that no meaningful action has been taken by police authorities. The estate caretaker, Mr. Ibe Uzoma, said reports were made to the Area Command, which only visited and took no further action before the tenants filed a formal petition on September 29, 2025.
When officers from the Nyanya Police Division were reportedly detailed to invite the DSP for questioning on September 13, he “bluntly refused to open his door each time.” The tenants now believe the situation is beyond the control of the divisional leadership.
Frustrated by inaction, the tenants retained the law firm Trio Jurist Firm, which has petitioned the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.
The firm stated: “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 continued protection of the officer could “escalate into a full breach of peace should our clients resort to self-help.”
The terrified residents are calling for immediate arrest and isolation of DSP Ugochukwu from the community and a thorough search of his apartment to recover any firearms or dangerous weapons in his possession.
In a direct appeal to the Inspector-General of Police, the tenants has wrote in one of the petitions: “We trust in your leadership to ensure that no officer is allowed to misuse his position or service weapon to terrorize the very citizens he swore to protect.”
While awaiting a response from the PSC, residents say they are now appealing to other security agencies for protection, as “it has become clear that the police authorities have refused to act.”
In the latest development, residents alleged that in the early hours of Thursday, October 16, 2025, DSP Ugochukwu was armed with a Jackknives, knocking on doors in an apparent attempt to identify the apartment of Comrade James Ezema — a journalist, 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) — for reasons yet unknown.
He was seen by residents later in the evening at the same apartment, still knocking on the door of another tenant, whose wife just put to bed, apparently searching for the journalist and later made away with the electricity meter serving two apartments.
Comrade Ezema, who also serves as Director of Operations at CREMA Initiative, told reporters he was still in shock: “I’m still in shock. I was dumbfounded because there has been no previous personal issue with him to warrant his manhunt for me. Nigerians should hold DSP Jeffery Ugochukwu and the Nigeria Police Force responsible if anything happens to me, my loved ones, or any tenant.”
He 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 boss and that nothing will happen to him.
“We’re appealing to the DIG whom he claims to be his godfather in the Nigeria Police Force not to back criminality and lawlessness at the expense of the lives of citizens, he said.”
According to the journalist, the Police Complaint Response Unit (CRU) bluntly told the landlord and some tenants in their office that the police man cannot be traced and there is nothing they can do.
“The landlord them, if he’s an unknown police officer, is it not the main reason to act if it’s an act of impersonation? But they said nothing and eventually did nothing till today,” Comrade Ezema lamented.
