Adesina Ogunlana, lawyer to embattled actor, Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, has narrated how the thespian was granted bail by a magistrate on Monday despite the ongoing strike by judiciary workers.
Baba Ijesha
is being detained by the police for alleged sexual assault and defiling of the
14-year-old foster daughter of comedienne, Princess.
The lawyer in
a live video on Facebook said Baba Ijesha was released by Chief Magistrate
Toyin of the Lagos state Judiciary.
According to
him, the magistrate said Baba ijesha’s offence is bail-able.
The lawyer
also said Baba Ijesha’s poor state of health in detention convinced the
magistrate to release him.
He narrated,
“Our client that has been in detention for more than 30 days has been granted
bail at the facility of his detention. The magistrate that granted him bail is
Chief Magistrate Toyin of the Lagos State Judiciary.
“The Chief
Magistrate in partnership with the Ministry of Justice in partnership with a
private organization, Police Decongestion Scheme led by a former chairman of
the NBA in Ikorodu, Bayo Akinlade, visited Panti and under the decongestion
scheme, visited that facility and met Baba Ijesha.
“Something was curious there. His name was not even entered as very much reliably learnt. The Chief Magistrate being bold and experienced, demanded to see him and he was brought to see the team. He came towards them limping and as we have described before, he was emaciated and bail was granted to him summarily by the Chief Magistrate and this is very very commendable.
”The
conditions of bail are that Baba Ijesha must have two sureties. One of the
sureties must be a level 10 officer, a civil servant. The other one should be a
blood relation of the thespian.
“The bail is
put as N500, 000 in large sum. It’s not security. It is just a bond that if he
should run away, the sureties will pay that. We are very sure he will not run
away. The verification is to be done by the OC Legal of the SCID Panti.”
Ogunlana faulted
those who said Baba Ijesha should not have been released despite the on going
JUSUN strike.
He said, ”It
is not a victory for Baba Ijesha alone. It is for everybody. Rights must be
respected. Laws must be respected. The idea of mob lynching, the idea of
lopsided action when it comes to rights and privilege of fellow citizens should
be decried.
“I want to
appreciate Chief Magistrate Toyin for the courage, for doing the right thing.
For stepping into this matter.
You remember
the police had pandered to public opinion of some activist who were sayig he
should never be released and hung it on the neck of JUSUN strike that they
would have charged the man to court and were even talking about the Attorney
General of Lagos state which with due respect to him, I wonder in the history
of defilement, how can somebody who is not biased, who is not malicious say a
prima facie case of defilement has been disclosed upon the facts of this case?
We will look into that and take that up. Baba Ijesha’s rights has been brazenly
brutalised.”
No comments:
Post a Comment