Connect with us

Featured

Unveiling the Truth Behind False Accusations, Unjust Sentences

Published

on

By Hezekiah Olujobi

A criminal may deny their crime even when caught red-handed. It is important to recognize that just because the government condemns certain crimes like sexual molestation and rape, it does not mean that everyone accused should automatically jailed contrary to law or receive heavy sentences. Fairness and justice must prevail in every trial.

As a child rights advocate and a father of four daughters, I am fiercely protective of my children. I will not tolerate anyone attempting to harm them. While I am vigilant in safeguarding my children and providing them with education, I am troubled by the stories I hear from prison inmates across the Southwest, including the recent complaint we received from the United States prison in Atlanta, Georgia, who claim they have been unfairly sentenced.

For example, I encountered a man behind bars in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, who insisted that his wife forced her own daughter to falsely accuse him of impregnating her. He vehemently denied committing such a heinous act because it is an abomination in his hometown, citing a misunderstanding with his wife over allegations of adultery involving a police officer who happened to be the investigating officer in his case.

Despite his pleas for a DNA test to prove his innocence, he was swiftly sentenced to life imprisonment.

We also have a similar case in Kirikiri where a wife accused her husband of molesting his own daughter, and the man was dumped in prison without trial since 2020. The same woman came to cry for our intervention to free her husband. Our investigation revealed that this woman was actually jealous of her husband with another woman. She has ran away from Lagos because some human rights lawyers are threatening her with arrest for failure to show up.

We also have a man complaining against his former girlfriend who framed him for the offense of raping her daughter just because they had a misunderstanding.

In the United States of America, we have one ADEDOJA Olaniyi baH, a Nigerian who was convicted to 3 life sentences plus 76 years over the allegation of rape. All evidence such as DNA, CCTV footage, and his GPS data that could have exonerated him were prevented during the trial. The man was unfortunate to run into such a deep grave dug by his friend who betrayed him after a business transaction.

Also in Kirikiri we attended to Robert Israel, who was sentenced to life imprisonment over allegations of rape. Mr. Robert Israel, a 60-year-old electrician and estate agent from Ibadan, was sent by his US-based employer to supervise a house in Lagos in July 2021. He explained that his path crossed with Oluchi, the 9-year-old victim’s mother, in August when she was engaged with a neighbor who had a shop on the same street. He mediated a misunderstanding between the two sisters, which led to a fight in August. By September.the other woman died mysteriously.

Subsequently, Oluchi’s mother sought house cleaning work from him, but he recommended her to a house painter but she quoted a high price, leading to her rejection.

Robert Israel recounted his surprise when Oluchi’s mother, accompanied by her husband and Oluchi, arrived at his place with two police women from Langbasa Police Station, Ajah, Lagos to arrest him on 29 October, 2021. They accused him of raping Oluchi on the 5th and 9th of October 2021 in the corridor of his master’s house. Robert stated that Oluchi and her mother knew his place but had never entered his apartment due to security measures.

When questioned about evidence, Oluchi’s mother claimed to have washed the victim’s underwear, leading to her dismissal from the DCO police officer’s office. Despite a medical report showing no injuries to the victim’s genitals, Robert was charged to court , convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on June 13, 2024.

Behind every false allegation of rape, there is an underlying story which may not be clear to the public. When any aggrieved person wants to deal with the offended person, what he or she needs to do is to report to the police and frame up the person on allegations of rape.

The attitude of the Court of Justice towards this offense does not portray the true symbol of justice. The court should be a place where the oppressed get justice, not where the oppressor triumphs over the innocent. The court and the police should never be used as an instrument of oppression. Sincere apologies to my noble lords. The office of the Chief Judge must caution some judges who are known for conviction. There is a need to sensitize the conscience of these judges to the consequences of their judgments upon the accused person. Crushing the life of an individual is crushing the children at home and their extended family. Such heavy sentences are indirectly death sentences.

The police carry the whole blame for this for a lack of power to turn down every false accusation and allegation instead of dealing with the real grievance.

No matter how brilliant and strong a submission a defense counsel can make, some judges are hell-bent on tempering justice with mercy.

We also have some so-called human rights activists who go about mounting pressure on the victim and their families to appear before the court with a threat to send them to jail. Why all these things? Just to gain popularity or international grants.

A case of rape or sexual molestation is indeed a very sensitive and serious issue that requires careful consideration and handling. We would not take such cases lightly; we will ensure that justice is served for the victims. However, justice is not for the victim alone but also for the offender and the society.

It is crucial to prioritize the well-being and justice for the victims in such cases and not to be swayed by the denials or attempts to minimize the seriousness of the offenses.

It is essential to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the real perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.

As for us here, or let me say, “as for me, I would take the risk to listen to the individual who strongly believes he is innocent with his proof of evidence, and I shall raise my voice on behalf of such an individual until justice is triumphed.”

In situations where individuals are crying out for justice, it is crucial that we listen attentively and not ignore their pleas. The pursuit of truth and fairness should always guide our actions in such cases.

It is high time to listen to the complaints of individuals crying in heavy sentences without money to appeal for their case.

While the Correctional Centre are doing their best to keep the people behind bar safe, the overcrowding remains their major problem. The only way to help reduce the overcrowding is to identify cases who are not supposed to be there.

For more information about us, visit www.cjmr.com.ng or contact us at 08030488093 or via email at hezekiaholujobi@yahoo.com or info@cjmr.com.ng.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Featured

UBA Reinforces Commitment to Rewarding Customer-Loyalty with N400m Bonus

Published

on

By

UBA Rewards Customer Loyalty with Over ₦400 Million Bumper Account Anniversary Bonus
…Reinforces commitment to rewarding customers for consistent savings
Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has rewarded thousands of customers with over ₦400 million in anniversary bonuses under its flagship UBA Bumper Account, reaffirming the Bank’s unwavering commitment to rewarding customer loyalty and promoting a strong savings culture.

The payout, one of the largest loyalty rewards under the Bumper Account initiative since its launch, saw qualifying customers receive anniversary bonuses directly into their accounts, demonstrating UBA’s resolve to create lasting value for customers who consistently save with the Bank.

The UBA Bumper Account is a unique savings product that rewards customers simply for maintaining and growing their savings. Every year an eligible account reaches its anniversary, customers receive a cash bonus, making disciplined saving both rewarding and beneficial over time.
Speaking on the milestone, UBA’s Head, Retail Products, Tomiwa Sotiloye, said the Bank remains committed to ensuring that customers benefit directly from their relationship with UBA.

“At UBA, we believe customer loyalty deserves meaningful recognition. Every bonus paid is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to customers who continue to trust us with their financial aspirations. Surpassing the ₦400 million milestone reflects our commitment to creating products that not only help customers save but also reward them in tangible ways. It is another demonstration that when our customers grow, we grow with them.”

He added that both new and existing customers can open a UBA Bumper Account seamlessly through https://on.ubagroup.com/bumper-tc, any any UBA branch, the UBA Mobile Banking App, by dialing *919#, or online, positioning themselves to qualify for future anniversary rewards.

Also speaking, UBA’s Group Head, Brands, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Alero Ladipo, said the Bank’s customer-centric philosophy continues to shape its product offerings.

“The UBA Bumper Account reflects our unwavering commitment to putting customers first. We deliberately design products that reward responsible financial behaviour while delivering real value. Crediting over ₦400 million directly into customers’ accounts is not just a payout; it is evidence of our promise to make banking more rewarding and to continually appreciate the confidence our customers repose in us.”

The UBA Bumper Account remains one of the Bank’s flagship retail savings products, combining competitive savings benefits, digital convenience and attractive loyalty rewards. It forms part of UBA’s broader strategy to deepen financial inclusion by encouraging sustainable savings habits while delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Continue Reading

Featured

Dele Momodu Leadership Centre Hosts Media Scholar, Prof Abiodun Adeniyi

Published

on

By

By Anjorin Fehintola Stella

We often measure leadership by the institutions people build or the positions they occupy. Yet, during his visit to the Dele Momodu Leadership Centre, Professor Abiodun Adeniyi repeatedly returned to something less visible but perhaps more enduring; the responsibility of documenting one’s life and thoughts. He spoke as someone who understands, at a personal level, what is lost when experience is left unrecorded. His emphasis on documentation was not stylistic advice for writers. It was an argument about memory itself, about how societies retain or lose the wisdom of the people who pass through them.

Ideas disappear when they are undocumented because memory, at the collective level, is fragile and selective. A society does not remember everything that happens within it, it remembers what is written down, repeated, taught, or institutionalised. An undocumented thought, however brilliant, dies with the person who held it, or worse, drifts into vague anecdote, stripped of its original precision. This is why oral cultures, for all their richness, often struggle to transmit complex ideas across generations with fidelity. Professor Adeniyi’s point, then, was not simply about personal record-keeping. History remembers people largely through what they leave behind, not through what they intended to leave behind. Intention without artefact disappears.

When he spoke about travelling, it would be easy to reduce his words to a fondness for movement or exposure. But the deeper claim runs further than that. Travel disrupts familiarity. It exposes individuals to different ways of living, thinking, governing and imagining society. Professor Adeniyi suggested that travelling remains one of the simplest yet most profound forms of education because it broadens not only knowledge but perspective. A person confined to one environment mistakes the local for the universal. Movement across geographies forces a confrontation with alternative logics, alternative arrangements of power, family, and meaning, and that confrontation is often where genuine learning begins.

Perhaps the strongest advice he gave concerned the pursuit of a doctorate. When Aare Dele Momodu spoke of his desire to pursue a PhD, Professor Adeniyi’s response challenged a growing culture in which academic qualifications are sometimes pursued as symbols of prestige rather than vehicles of inquiry. A PhD earned for the title that follows a name produces a credential without a contribution. A PhD earned out of genuine curiosity produces new knowledge and, more importantly, sustains the kind of intellectual restlessness that defines a thinking life. Professor Adeniyi’s counsel was that one should choose a field that strikes them professionally and personally, something that connects to lived purpose rather than social signalling, because the value of advanced study lies in the questions it forces a person to keep asking long after the degree is conferred.

Professor Abiodun did not reserve his counsel for matters of scholarship alone. Turning to the younger staff in the room, Professor Adeniyi offered something closer to reassurance than instruction, that everything they are currently going through, the uncertainty, the striving, the sense of being far from where they hope to be, is a phase both he and Aare Dele Momodu have lived through themselves. It was a reminder that ambition rarely moves on a straight or visible timeline. The goals and dreams that feel distant now are not denied, only delayed, and what stands between the present moment and their fulfilment is simply time and dedication, applied without pause.

 

Underneath all these threads, travel, documentation, the meaning of scholarship, was a single, unifying idea about legacy. Legacy isn’t what people say about you. It’s what remains after you leave. This distinction matters because praise is temporary and circumstantial, shaped by mood, politics, and memory’s natural decay. What remains, however, is structural. It is the book on a shelf, the institution still running, the idea still being taught.

This is where the conversation returned, inevitably, to the Centre itself. The library. The scholars’ rooms. The conversations. The institution. Professor Adeniyi appeared genuinely moved by what he encountered, not by the scale of the buildings, but by what the buildings were designed to hold. Perhaps that is why Professor Adeniyi appeared genuinely moved by the Centre. It was never merely about architecture. It was about permanence. Buildings become legacy only when they preserve ideas.

Every visit leaves footprints. Some are physical. Others are intellectual. Professor Abiodun Adeniyi’s visit left the latter.

Continue Reading

Featured

Lagos Govt Sues for Calm As Flood Ravages City, Okays Dredging of 28 Channels

Published

on

By

The Lagos State Government has appealed for calm following persistent rainfall and flash floods across many parts of the State over the past two weeks, announcing the immediate dredging of 28 additional primary drainage channels to improve flood control.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu approved the emergency dredging intervention as part of efforts to strengthen the state’s drainage network.

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the recent downpours are an extreme weather event that produced an unusually large volume of rainfall within a short period, overwhelming drainage systems in some locations and causing temporary flooding in parts of Victoria Island, Lekki, Ikeja, Gbagada, Mushin, Mafoloku and other communities.

According to him, the situation was not peculiar to Lagos; several African countries and parts of North America also experienced heavy rainfall and flooding during the same period.

Wahab, however, said Lagos presents a more complex hydrological challenge because of its extensive network of lagoons, rivers, creeks and tidal water bodies, coupled with its high rainfall intensity.

He explained that the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean, Lagos Lagoon and inland waterways, especially during high tide, naturally slows the discharge of storm-water into the sea, leading to temporary flooding in low-lying areas during exceptionally heavy rainfall.

The commissioner assured residents that the government was closely monitoring drainage infrastructure, flood-prone areas and major channels across the State.

He added that emergency response agencies have been deployed to affected areas to facilitate the quick recession of floodwaters and provide necessary support to residents.

Wahab said the government would continue to invest in drainage construction, channelisation, desilting, and other flood-control infrastructure, but stressed that residents also have a responsibility to support these efforts.

He urged residents to stop dumping refuse into drains, canals and waterways, warning that blocked drainage channels and illegal reclamation of wetlands contribute significantly to flooding.

He also cautioned against building on drainage alignments and engaging in activities that could obstruct the free flow of storm-water.

The commissioner said the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall events across coastal cities is a clear indication of the impact of climate change.

“Lagos is not exempt from these realities. However, the State Government remains steadfast in its commitment to building a flood-resilient city through sustained infrastructure development, environmental enforcement and active collaboration with residents,” he said.

Wahab described flood management as a shared responsibility, urging residents to keep drainage channels free of debris and to report any activities that could obstruct storm-water flow.

He also advised motorists to avoid driving through flooded roads during heavy rainfall and urged residents, particularly those in flood-prone communities, to comply with weather advisories and safety instructions issued by relevant government agencies.

He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting lives and property through proactive flood management measures and called for continued public cooperation in building a cleaner, safer and more resilient Lagos.

Continue Reading

Trending