A senior officer at the Lagos State Police Command has said that a directive had been given for the release of embattled Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju Omiyinka, aka Baba Ijesha, from custody.
The source revealed that due to the current strike by members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, courts had halted sitting and the suspect could not be detained indefinitely without trial.
The source, however, said inquiry into the recent claim against Omiyinka revealed that he did not molest the victim, adding that when she was questioned, the victim confirmed the same.
The senior police officer stated : “There was no case of defilement, people are just talking out of sentiment. They are not talking from the point of law. We interviewed all parties involved in the case for three hours today (Wednesday).
“The mother complained that her child was at the age of seven when she was defiled and the child pointed at Baba Ijesha. But the case was not reported until she was 14 years and under the law, the case has become statute-barred.
“Regarding this new case, the CCTV footage has been assessed and nowhere was it captured that Baba Ijesha defiled her. The footage only showed him touching the victim’s body but it never showed him having any sexual intercourse with the girl. The girl also confirmed the same thing.
“So, in law, it is a case of indecent assault and not sexual harassment, and it is open to bail. So, can we continue to keep him when the offence is subject to bail and when there is no court sitting? That is against his fundamental human rights and the police do not work on sentiments. Directives have been given out for his release on bail”, the source told Punch.
The source, however, said that despite granting Omiyinka bail, investigation would continue, adding that the command had also sought legal opinion from the state Ministry of Justice.
The source added, “A test was recently done on the victim and it was discovered that she had penetration. Is it the penetration of seven years that is still evident now, and who penetrated her then? Is there any medical report linking the man (Omiyinka) to the crime?
“The CCTV footage never showed Baba Ijesha defiling her, but he confessed to touching her body indecently and apologised, and the girl confirmed the same.
“Investigation is still ongoing and we have instructed them to conduct a medical examination on the victim at a government recognised medical facility. We are not specialists in the field and we have also sought legal opinion from the Ministry of Justice.”
Meanwhile, Iyabo Ojo and Yomi Fabiyi on Wednesday took to their respective Instagram accounts to throw jabs at each other over the defilement of a teenager by their colleague, Baba Ijesha.
Both actors were trending on the Nigerian Twitter space. While Iyabo was trending at the number one spot with over 7,500 tweets, Yomi Fabiyi was trending at number seven with over 2,000 tweets.
In the same vein a myriad of celebrities have reacted to the trending issue.
Outspoken media personality, Toke Makinwa said: “Stop shaming victims of abuse. Stop trying to analytically understand their statements. You clearly heard the child was failing in school, her brothers complained of a change in her behaviour pattern; you think they made all that up? You must be sick too.
“The world is full of sick people. I once heard a grown man comment on how fresh a three-year-old’s bum was. He casually just blurted out ‘see as this baby’s bum bum fresh’. I cursed him out and guess what? People around thought I was exaggerating; like it’s just a compliment.”