Adesina Ogunlana, lawyer of embattled comedian Olanrewaju Omiyinka, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, has berated the Lagos State attorney-general and commissioner for justice Moyosore Onigbanjo for opposing his client’s bail.
Mr. Ogunlana also took a swipe at the Lagos State Police Command and others responsible for the comedian’s detention following his arrest for alleged sexual assault of a minor last month.
Lagos police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi told journalists last week that the decision to hold on to Baba Ijesha was based on legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) under the ministry of justice.
“So, Baba Ijesha is being kept with the police not within our own power, but because of the legal advice from the DPP pending when Baba Ijesha’s case will be charged to court.
“If the DPP had advised us to release Baba Ijesha, we would have released him,” the spokesperson said.
Speaking in a Facebook Live broadcast on Monday, Ogunlana asked “How could somebody who is not biased, who is not malicious, how can that person, and I am talking about the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo. He is a fine learned gentleman but for goodness sake, how could anybody say a prima facie case of defilement has been disclosed upon the fact of this case?”
The former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch said his client has been brutally denied of his rights.
“As far as we are concerned, both the police and the ministry of justice are to be indicted for this unnecessary brutalisation and oppression of Baba Ijesha’s right. If a person is entitled to a right, you give it to him; you don’t need to say whether it conforms with your idea of morality or not. When you know the right thing to do and you refuse to do it, that is a sin,” Ogunlana added.
Baba Ijesha was granted bail on health ground Chief Magistrate Oluwatoyin Oghre on Monday after weeks of incarceration.
The bail conditions as listed by his lawyer are two reliable sureties – one of whom must be a level-10 civil servant and the other a direct blood relation to the accused – and N500,000 bail bond.