A mother of three, Mrs. Yetunde Osijo, has narrated how a minor traffic incident between her and a magistrate, Funke Sule-Hamzat resulted in her arrest even when she was not the person at fault.
According to reporterrs, a minor traffic incident that occurred at Oworonsoki area of Lagos, led to Osijo’s arraignment and subsequent detention in Kirikiri prison.
It was gathered that the Magistrate who used the power of her office, had pursued Osijo after their cars brushed until she caught up with her and forced the police to have her arrested without even wanting to hear anything from her.
According to Osijo’s husband, Dipo, Sule-Hamzat’s driver, who is a magistrate at the Ogudu Magistrate Court, allegedly bumped into Osijo’s car, but the furious magistrate ordered that Osijo be arrested and taken to her court, and later remanded in Kirikiri Prison without giving her the opportunity to get a lawyer.
Dipo said:
Quote
“From information I gathered from eyewitnesses, it was the magistrate’s driver that was wrong at the time of the minor accident. “Yetunde, who bumped into the magistrate’s car assumed she would be asked to leave only to realise that Sule-Hamzat’s car was chasing her from behind.”
However, the woman has been released after the family was able to perfect the bail conditions. She was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 and a surety. Speaking on the matter, the Chief Registrar of Lagos State High Court, Mr. Emmanuel Ogundare, said the entire story as told by Mr Osijo was far from the truth.
He said
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: “How can a magistrate in Lagos, involved in an accident, order the arrest of the other party and arraign her in own court?
“This a judicial officer, who knows the implication of such actions. It was unfortunate that contrary to the report, the case was brought before Magistrate A. Elias, who sits in Ogba Chief Magistrate’s Court, that has the jurisdiction to handle the case from the area the accident happened.
“Can we say because she is a judicial officer, she is not entitled to complain to the police or be heard when her rights is trampled upon?
“The lady in question was arrested in Surulere, from Ogba where the incident occurred and taken to the police station, where her statement was taken.
“She was subsequently arraigned and granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety in like sum, which is the least bail condition for such offence.”
I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years
Posted: at 23-03-2016 12:09 PM (9 years ago) | Hero
BournIdentity at 23-03-2016 12:24 PM (9 years ago) (m)
I begi,,,, throw d magistrate inside kirikiri too,,
Posted: at 23-03-2016 12:24 PM (9 years ago) | Addicted Hero
christianity at 23-03-2016 12:36 PM (9 years ago) (m)
dats the type of news dat always come from dat part of the world.lawyer,police,army,vp,headmaster,teacher and even lasma abusing the rights of the citizens,and absolutely nothing will happen thereafter.can someone now give me the reason why i should not label dat entity a zoo?
Posted: at 23-03-2016 12:36 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac
pnuonum78 at 23-03-2016 02:23 PM (9 years ago) (f)
Can peoples pls read the passage carefully without bias the accused hit the magistrate and ran away instead of stopping and begging the magistrate so the magistrate had to pursue her till she caught her that attempt to pursue her is waste of her government time so she has to be punished for attempting to run away
Posted: at 23-03-2016 02:23 PM (9 years ago) | Newbie
Jungle justice in the highest order. How could one preside over a case in which she is the plaintiff, the complainant, and has 100% interest to recover loss? Everything is possible in Nigeria. The defendant may have attempted to flea or abscond the scene of accident, which has criminal intent; but the case prosecuted by law enforcement officers and must be heard by a competent court by a judge who has no interest in the case. This judgment is not enforceable because it's palpable and orchestrated by conflict of interest.
Posted: at 23-03-2016 08:16 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac
emma4love3 at 23-03-2016 08:22 PM (9 years ago) (m)
well the magistrate can not be the judge of her own case....then the victim shudnt have ran away....she shuld have stop and see the extend of damage and then plead for mercy if she is at fault....
Posted: at 23-03-2016 08:22 PM (9 years ago) | Hero