Baba Suwe to be released, demands public apology
“To remain in detention till Friday”
JUSTICE Yetunde Idowu of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, yesterday granted popular comedian, Mr. Babatunde Omidina (alias Baba Suwe) bail for N500,000 with one surety in like sum.
She ordered the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to release him on bail on Friday unless he excretes banned substances such as cocaine or heroin, which he is believed to have ingested.
The trial judge barred Omidina from travelling abroad and ordered the NDLEA to hand over his international passport to the court’s Chief Registrar or the deputy.
Justice Idowu asked Omidina’s counsel, Bamidele Aturu, to return on Friday to give a report on whether her order had been complied with. It is then she will fix a date for judgment in the actor’s substantive N100 million suit.
According to her, Omidina had overstayed in detention. “If it takes a person 21 days to excrete something and till now he has not, will it be fair to keep him forever?” she asked.
In a fundamental rights enforcement application, the actor sought a declaration that his arrest and detention since October 12 by the NDLEA on suspicion of drug trafficking was a gross violation of his rights.
He demanded a public apology from the NDLEA, to be published in two national dailies widely read in Nigeria.
Aturu argued that the law does not allow any law enforcement agency to arrest a person, detain him, and start “fishing” for evidence.
He said the NDLEA had not arraigned Omidina for any offence, and only procured an order from the Federal High Court “after the applicant had spent nine days in unlawful detention.”
According to him, the NDLEA had not accounted for the nine days his client was held without a court order, adding that his client deserved damages for the “flagrant abridgement of his constitutional right to personal liberty.”
Aturu said the scan reports were conflicting, as one indicated that no drug was found in Omidina’s system.
The NDLEA’s Director of Legal Services, Mr. Femi Oloruntoba, opposed Omidina’s application, saying he was not entitled to any of the reliefs sought.
He insisted that the actor was subjected to body scan within the nine days before a court order was obtained. He said the tests showed positive results that he ingested banned substances.
“Our suspicion is real. We have the jurisdiction not only to arrest a person for suspected drug trafficking but to also prevent the commission of drug related offences.
“How do you take a suspect to court when he has not defecated the substances?” Oloruntoba asked.
He added that the NDLEA had an experience with a suspect who excreted hard drugs 15 days after his arrest. A case in the United Kingdom took 19 days, he added.
The NDLEA said the detention of Omidina is within the purview of the law.
“To grant this application is to help the suspect conceal his crime because if he excretes the drugs outside the custody of NDLEA, it will be impossible to seize the drug and investigate the case.
“Drug trafficking has brought Nigeria into disrepute in the comity of nations and the applicant was travelling to Paris, France, when he was arrested.
“It is not in the interest of justice to grant this application, as it will prevent the respondent from having the opportunity to supervise the excretion of the drugs ingested by the applicant. It is in the interest of justice to dismiss this application,” he stated.
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By Joseph Onyekwere
Source: The Guardian
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