Adesina Ogunlana, lawyer to embattled Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju James Omiyinka popularly known as Baba Ijesha has explained that his client is traumatised, weak and growing lean in police detention.
The former chair of Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, said this in a letter addressed to Lagos Commissioner of Police seeking Baba Ijesha’s bail.
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Baba Ijesha is under investigation by Lagos State police command on allegations of rape and has been in police detention since April 22 for the alleged offence.
The actor is being accused by a Nigerian comedienne, Princess, of raping a minor (when she was 7-year-old) who was kept in her care.
In a letter addressed to the Lagos police commissioner, Ogunlana, who doubles as the chairperson of the Radical Agenda Movement In The Nigerian Bar Association, (RAMINBA), said his client should be released on bail.
He also added that Baba Ijesha’s colleague and close pal, Yomi Fabiyi, who has been a strong supporter, is ready to stand as a surety for him.
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The letter partly reads;
As of today when I met with Omiyinka in the company of his thespian colleague and ready surety, Mr Yomi Fabiyi, he appeared traumatised, emaciated, and walked with a limp in his right leg. May I assure you, sir, that Mr Omiyinka is not a flight risk and he is prepared to face trial.
In the letter, the lawyer lamented Baba Ijesha’s continuous detention at SCID Panti Yaba facility for almost a month, saying;
It is in gross breach of his fundamental human rights as cognisable under the 1999 constitution, the grand norm of the nation’s legal architecture.
We are aware that a piece of legal advice on our client’s matter has been issued about two weeks ago, disclosing prospective charges of bailable character.
From all indications, the investigation has been concluded in his matter and it is inconceivable that the issuance of legal advice will now be a basis for the denial of bail as you have been widely reported in the press to have claimed.
Meanwhile, according to PremiumTimes, Ayo Ademiluyi, Secretary of RAMINBA, on Sunday said Baba Ijesha’s bail application has not been granted.
He stated;
We went to the Deputy Commissioner of police, the state CID, where he is currently being detained and we argued that he cannot be denied bail on the basis that the Nigerian courts are on strike. So, the DCP told us to apply for his bail, and we brought an application under the aegis of Winner Don’t Quit chambers which is Mr Ogunlana’s law firm.
Ademiluyi said the bail application has been submitted and acknowledged but they are yet to get a feedback.
He expressed;
We submitted that application, that application was written to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police said he is going to translate it to him. And it has been acknowledged, and as we speak, there has been no feedback or no response to that application.
He expressed that the refusal of the police to grant Baba Ijesha’s bail application means that the country has no regard for its own constitutional provisions.
